Devils brawl and sprawl in Rangers loss

The New Jersey Devils sent three players that are not afraid to throw their hams around out to start their visit to Madison Square Garden.
The New York Rangers countered with three more and the result was the fight of the season just three seconds into the game.
After that type of start,everything else was anti-climactic and the result was a 4-2 win for the first place Rangers.
Both of the Devils goals came in the second period and were scored by Patrik Elias (25) and Petr Sykora (17).
The Devils remain in sixth place in the conference,four points ahead of their Tuesday opponent in the Ottawa Senators.

Hell Raisers

1) The fight was the best all year and it was easily superior to the first battle at MSG,two seconds into the game.
Lots of blood,lots of punches and all of what you would expect from the Devils and Rangers hooking it up!



2) That said,having both Eric Boulton and Cam Janssen backfired as usual with Boulton being called for a moronic boarding penalty that led to the Rangers power play goal and a 3-1 lead for the Blueshirts.
I like physical hockey and I have no problems with enforcers,but the issue to me is that having both Boulton and Janssen on the ice leads to goals for the other team and Boulton is not a good enough enforcer to put up with his deficiencies.

3) Adam Larsson continues his struggles as he allowed the Rangers Brandon Dubinsky to get inside beat Martin Brodeur for the first goal of the game.
I have no idea what the issue with Larsson-health,confidence or being in shape are just possible reasons,but whatever the problem,the Devils need the solution quickly.

4) The Rangers did a solid job in stopping the Devils top line,but the Elias/Sykora/Zubrus line was the dominant line of the evening.Most of the Devils top scoring chances came off this line.

5) I found John Tortorella's screaming at the Devils bench about the fight to be frankly-BS.
The home team turns in their lineup last,so if Tortorella did not want things to break down,then he should not have sent out Mike Rupp,Brandon Prust and Stu Bickel to start the contest.

6) Apparently,Peter DeBoer thinks the same on the above issue as I typed the fifth bullet point before reading this link on the matter.

7) Travis Zajac will be traveling with the team to Ottawa to skate with the team.
No word on if Zajac will be playing in the game.
Ottawa was the site of the last game for the center on January second.

Back later with Cavaliers vs Nets

Photo Credit:AP Photo