Devils Drop Two Straight, Face Rangers at the Garden Tonight

With two straight losses against the Canucks and the Lightning, the Devils have dropped from fourth to sixth place in the Eastern Conference standings at 74 points.  With the addition of defenseman Marek Zidlicky, it's time to bounce back from those losses as we go to the Garden tonight to face the number one seeded Rangers (still hurts to say that).  Both teams are 6-3-1 in their last ten games, with the Rags coming off a rebound win against the Sabres.  I thought New York would fall off the face of the earth like they usually do this time of year, but they seem to be the most consistent team in the East this year (I hate to admit it).  It is the fourth of six meetings with the cross-Hudson rivals, with the Devils winning the last two.  Marty had his only shutout against them on February 7th when the Rangers goal was disallowed with 3.5 seconds left because of goalie interference by Marian Gaborik (great call).

Brodeur looks forward to the matchup tonight at the Garden, saying that the Devils need to “just continue to work hard, play with a little emotion - that shouldn’t be hard playing against the Rangers to try to get that level up. But I think we have to try to do that a little more consistently if we don’t wanna go up and down here for the rest of the way.” Marty hasn't started two days in a row all season but most likely will get the nod after going 9-0-1 in his last ten road games.


That record and the Devils 7-game road wins streak is a reminder that the they simply haven't been able to win at home. It's going to take a miracle for us to catch the Rangers for the Atlantic Division title (hurts so much to say), but we can take a big step tonight with a win. If we can't catch them in the remaining 21 games, the best we can do is fourth, which is still not going to be easy with the fucking Flyers and Penguins right in the mix. Let's make a run boys. And fuck the Rangers.

My Prediction: 2-1 Devils