Rangers 3 Devils 1

Last night was great.

I was lucky enough to be at The Garden and the place was buzzing from before the drop of the puck. Its strange how now matter how lethargic the Rangers can look on the ice, the fans never mail in a shift. And something about the cross-river rivals ratchets up the tension. Fans in red and blue were sniping at each other on the frozen sidewalks around MSG, the escalators and of course in the seats.

I would love to focus on congratulating Hank, who was TREMENDOUS against Jersey and clearly bounced back from an AWFUL performance Thursday night, as documented by my linemate below. The King snatched up several glove side drives that looked ticketed for the back of the night. It was, in many ways, a typical Devils-Rangers affair, in the sense that the Devils really did get the better scoring chances, and wound up also statistically bearing this out with their 42 shots on goal. But Henrik slammed the door where Marty didn't.

But my biggest question of the night stems from an incident at 2:16 of the 3rd period. With the Rangers up 3-1 it would have taken a real quick turnaround for the Devils to tie or win the game. Only problem is, the Devils have done it before, and by before I mean the previous night against Toronto. As the teams lined up to take a draw in the Devils zone, the newest Devil Ilya Kovalchuk plowed through the officials and attacked Sean Avery.

Ilya's arrival in New Jersey three games earlier sent shockwaves through the NY/NJ hockey community and the Eastern Conference. This trade could have tipped the balance of power at the top. But at 2:16 of the 3rd period, the dynamic veteran who had only played 3 games in anything other than an Atlanta Thrashers uniform, snapped under the bright lights of the big city and presumably as a result of the mouth of Sean Avery.

With 2:16 to go, Avery took a couple of decent shots and wound up on the ice. He and Ilya were dragged off to the sin-bin with 4 minute roughing penalties for both.

As a result, the Devils latest acquisition, the man who's scoring touch and playmaking ability was supposed to send the Jersey Boys into the next stratosphere, had taken himself off the ice for the rest of regulation.

New York survived the last two minutes and wrapped up the victory.

My question, that I can't get over, WHAT could Sean Avery have POSSIBLY said to set off Kovalchuk? The New York Post reports that it had something to do with Marty. Was Ilya standing up to defend his Hall of Fame goalie? Was he trying to make a good impression on his new teammates? In a perfect world, Avery would go public with it, but that's not Avery 2.0. Maybe we'll find out after he retires and writes his tell-all book.

Last note of the day; Ryan Callahan was the game's number 2 star, after The King. He had a goal and an assist, which is great, but he also blocked some seriously difficult shots, won a lot of battles in the corners and went toe-to-toe with Kovalchuk on numerous shifts. Cally obviously means a lot to his teammates and coach as evidenced by the A on his chest, despite his young age. But Cally's has become a beloved figure by the New York fans. In many ways he exemplifies what we wish we saw more of from the rest of this team.

Callahan's Team USA swag, as well as Henrik's Team Sweden and Gaborik's Team Slovakia are now available. For a hard working New Yorker like Ryan to find himself in an idiosyncratic but elite category like that is a testament to his dedication and success.