Foul practice made perfect.
Well-schooled on shutouts by being blanked in two straight, the Rangers and their worst offense in the NHL made the Devils their turnabout victims last night. They erupted with a Broadway Bonanza on Nigel Dawes’ pair for a 2-0 victory at the Garden.
It had been more than 126 minutes since the Rangers scored a goal, and 10 years since they last shut out the Devils. Both droughts are now done, and the Rangers have three points in three games on the output of those two goals.
“Just by what the guys were saying in the dressing room and on the bench, they certainly knew what needed to be done,” Tom Renney said. “We haven’t played enough hockey with this group to see if we really have our hands on that yet, but certainly, this is a nice starting point.”
The Devils’ starting point isn’t so rosy for their Newark arena debut tomorrow against Ottawa. They head there from their first blanking by the Rangers since Jan. 12, 1997, when the goalie was Mike Richter, and finished 3-5-1 on their season-opening nine-game road schedule.
“Only seven points out of 18 possible. That’s not good enough,” Brent Sutter said after the Devils were zipped for the third time in nine games and second in three.
The Rangers put a quick end to their goal drought, capitalizing on a horrendous defense change for Dawes’ first, 57 seconds into play. Andy Greene was trying to replace off-coming Johnny Oduya, but both refrained from playing Karel Rachunek’s ill-advised pass toward the Devils’ bench. Brendan Shanahan took the gift puck and found Dawes breaking down the middle for his first of the year past Martin Brodeur’s stick.
“A terrible mistake in any type of hockey game, but coming in here in a big game, knowing we have to get back to .500?” Sutter snapped. “You can’t make mistakes like that. It’s a mistake you see if you watch Atoms (kiddies).
“You can’t win if you don’t score goals, but without that mistake it’s 0-0 going into the last four minutes.”
Sutter blamed ex-Ranger Rachunek for making that pass to Oduya, headed for the bench, and Oduya for “not going off harder.” Defensemen usually don’t change while the puck is in their zone.
Thereafter, Henrik Lundqvist was sharp when needed against the resistible force that is the Devils offense. Dawes ended the suspense with his second of the game/season at 16:07 of the third, scorching Brodeur low, short side from the right circle on the power play. It was the eighth straight game the Devils allowed a power-play goal.
Scott Gomez seemed pleased enough to have the Rangers’ victory overshadow his first game against the Devils since signing his $51.5 million, seven-year deal in July. Not a major factor last night, he was stopped from the left circle by Brodeur in the first, and escaped slaughter when lined up by a humane Patrik Elias at the end boards. Gomez was credited with two shots in 19:38 of play.
“One thing I learned by being with them. We got the win, that’s what matters,” Gomez said.
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Rangers D Thomas Pock was sent to Hartford after clearing waivers yesterday. He would require re-entry waivers to return to the NHL, under which any team could claim him and have half his $650,000 this season, $685,000 next, paid by the Rangers and count against their cap. . . . Renney said Ryan Callahan may miss “two weeks, four weeks,” or more with Grade 2 knee sprain suffered in a 1-0 loss in Pittsburgh on Wednesday. . . . Lou Lamoriello said the Devils have not yet decided to waive Richard Matvichuk, and if no one claims him, perhaps recall him, exposing him to re-entry waivers. . . . Sheldon Brookbank made his Devils debut on defense, as Mike Mottau sat out.
Rangers 2 Devils 0