PaullyInNYC

The NY Rangers lost to the cross river rivals last night. They are still first in the division with 80 points. Marty Brodeur had an excellent game winning his 30th game of the season. He has now won 30 plus games in his last 10 seasons, the first by any goalie in NHL history. Congrats!!

PaullyInNYC

The Devils are on a 7 game winning streak thanks to beating the NY Rangers last night to tie the season series. It was definitly a playoff type atmosphere. The Rangers and Devils if the playoffs started today would square off in what would be a great hockey series. These two teams always go at each other hard especially in the postseason. Marty Broduer made some key saves, as usual, down the stretch. He has 422 career wins. He is still in fourth place all time but is closing in on third all time quickly.
With 93 points now they are only 2 away from Philly and both philly and NJ square off twice against each other. So as far as standings go, there are playoff spots to fight for making this an interesting race to the finish line. The Rangers are still 5 points ahead of philly for the Atlantic Division crown. Should be an interesting last 5 or 6 games ahead.

CityGuy

Who would win a playoff series between these two teams? Just curious....The regular season series was tied 4 -4 ... should be interesting!!

PaullyInNYC

Well right now Im trying to figure out who will win the division... If the Devils and Rangers meet, I would pick the Devils to win. The Rangers are definitly one of the most improved teams. I think next year will even be better for the Rangers. They do have a lot of veteran leaders on that team, so I believe the Rangers would make it close with the Devils.

The reason I pick the Devils is because of Marty Broduer. He is the backbone of this team and has plenty of experiece. Henrik Lundqvist and Kevin Weekes just dont have what it takes to get them deep into the playoffs. Unless Jagr, Ozolinsh, and Sykora do serious damage on offense there is no way the Devils are losing this series!!

PaullyInNYC

What an interesting Tuesday night that was. The Devils who started the night tied with Philly (99 points) and the Rangers with 100, have won the Division being that the Rangers lost 5 to 1 to the Ottawa Senators. Philly beat the Islanders but because the Devils have more wins they beat out Philly for the 3rd overall seed and the Division title. I originally thought the Devils and Rangers would meet in the first round a few weeks back, but I thought it was the Rangers that would have the home ice and the Division title, instead its the Devils winning 11 in a row and stealing the Atlantic Crown and the 3rd overall seed.
Now they will meet in an intense first round series as most predicted a few weeks back...

Who will win this series? Hmm...not sure but my prediction has to be the Devils. Winning 11 in a row shows how good they are. During that streak they beat high quality teams and have been playing playoff style hockey. They have too much going for them to lose this series. The Rangers will settle for just making the playoffs, the Devils knew they would be here since the start of the season. The mentality of the Devils is just way too much for the Rangers to handle, the Devils were actually written off by all, now fueling the Devils for a major run at the ultimate prize once again.

The bottom line is the Devils not the Rangers, have the best player in hockey, Marty Broduer. Some people will think I am crazy because Jagr is considered to be an MVP candidate, but its Brodeur who can control a playoff series. The last time the Devils won the cup, Brodeur had a record setting 7 shutouts. Look for Broduer to make sure no pucks are getting past him and watch how much quicker he will get once the playoffs actually start. He is a machine comes playoff time. It will be intense but I see the Devils winning in 6 games.

PaullyInNYC

Well I was away on vacation with no internet access and no idea of how the playoff series witht he Rangers and Devils went but when I landed at JFK International Airport, there was a lot of discussion about that particular series.
After some research I see that Patrik Elias was just too good and playing off the charts. Marty Broduer was also outstanding, not allowing a goal in game 3. The Devils will have to wait it out to see who is next. That will definitly be decided by the end of this week.
The Rangers on the other hand had to expect this losing that last 5 games of the season and letting the Division crown slip away. That coupled with Jagrs shoulder injury, the Rangers just could not handle a powerful and confident Devils team. On the upside the Rangers have plenty of cap room to attract better players (possibly Patrick Elias) and be an even more improved team next year.

CityGuy

So who has a better chance of winning the Atlantic division title next year (2006 & 2007) season, the NY Rangers or the NJ Devils??

PaullyInNYC

Well right now as of monday october 16th the new york rangers are up on the new jersey devils 1-0 for the season series. We will keep track of this throughout this season.

PaullyInNYC

The latest meeting between these crosstown rivals was pretty insane. Today the New york rangers scored 3 goals in 90 seconds to beat the new jersey devils. The nj devils looked comfortable up 2-0 and had me thinking shutout but then the comeback rangers put on a clinic scoring three goals and making it look fairly easy with some beautiful passing. I was defitley kinda shocked to see martin brodeur give up 3 in such a short span of time.

PaullyInNYC

yesterday the nj devils defeated the new york rangers 1-0. the season series is 3-2, with the ny rangers ahead now by a game. With this win the new jersey devils are 10 points ahead of the rangers. The devils are on fire as of late with an 8-1-1 record in their last 10 games. Marty Brodeur got his 28th win and 8th shutout of the season. the new york rangers on the other hand remain idle at 50 points and need to pick up the slack as of late.