Rangers @ Devils

Prudential Center, 7:00 Friday

Rangers record: 31-24-4

Devils Record: 23-30-4

The six-game losing streak is in the past, and now the Rangers have a great chance to put some distance between themselves and the playoff cutoff line with their match against the rival New Jersey Devils tomorrow night.

But it won’t be easy.  After a disastrous start to the season, New Jersey has been a different team in the second half and the Devils are 13-1-2.  Their current pace is obviously unsustainable, but New Jersey has been so good that they have begun to creep into the playoff conversation.  Though Martin Brodeur has returned to practice, the Rangers, in all likelihood, will face Johan Hedberg tomorrow night.  But that might not be an advantage, Hedberg has been phenomenal lately.  All the Devils’ veteran forwards that were invisible for months seem to have found their games at the same time.  Led by Ilya Kovalchuk, the Devils are playing like the dominant team many expected at the beginning of the year.

As for the Rangers, this a perfect opportunity to build momentum, and at the same time they can put a serious damper on the Devils’ recent success.  Other than the power play, the biggest single key for New York is for Marian Gaborik to build off his goal tonight.  He will be the guy tomorrow night, because the Rangers desperately need No. 10 to become their go-to-guy as Kovalchuk has been for the Devils. 

It will be interesting to see how the Rangers respond.  They have had no trouble getting up for back to backs this season, and it helps that they’re playing the rival Devils, but tonight’s bout was emotional and physical.  It’s conceivable that the Rangers could start the game stale, but the Devils no longer let teams get away with that.  The Blueshirts must recognize that the Devils are not the patsy they faced earlier in the season.