The One That Got Away...

At the end of last season, the Devils went after Hobey Baker Award winning defenseman Matt Gilroy with essentially the same package the Rangers offered. The 25-year-old was enthralled with John Tortorella's attacking style of play and that the coach would challenge him every day. He opted for Broadway and stuck it to the Devils last night (again) scoring his first NHL goal, the game winner, with 2:10 left in the second period.

The turning point in this game happened 1:24 in though. The Devils came out flying with Jay Pandolfo outworking Marc Staal in the corner. He fed Rob Niedermeyer who went top shelf on Henrik Lundqvist for a 1-0 lead 1:10 in. The Blueshirts were sloppy on the next shift that ended with Dainius Zubrus losing an edge and crashing into Lundqvist. That was all for John Tortorella. He called a timeout and laced into his team with some choice words... they listened.

The Rangers got their first power play goal of the season shortly thereafter from Michael Del Zotto, who scored in his second straight game. He later added an assist on Ales Kotalik's (first as a Ranger) one time slap shot power play bullet to tie it at 2 after Travis Zajac had given the Devils a 2-1 lead. David Clarkson made a pretty no look pass to Zajac giving Lundqvist no chance. It was 2-2 after the first.

The Rangers settled into their game from then on in this penalty filled game. Due to the 36 minutes in minors in a 60 minute game, there wasn't much flow in this one. 36 minutes is a joke with not one fighting major. Speaking of fighting though, Donald Brasheer and his fourth line of Brian Boyle and Aaron Voros were fantastic again with Boyle also getting important penalty kill minutes.

Late in second, Gilroy skated into the Devils zone and the Rangers went to work. Vinny ProspalGilroy but before it got there Marian Gaborik made a terrific play lifting Nicklas Bergfors' stick allowing the puck through. Gilroy creeped in, took his time and let go a low slap shot that went under Martin Brodeur's left pad.

The Rangers played a solid third period led by Wade Redden and Michal Rozsival who continueRenaissances this year. Gilroy played regularly in the third though Tortorealla curbed Michael Del Zotto a little. Del Zotto ended up with the least amount of ice among defenseman with 11:42 but has 2 goals and an assist in his last 2 games. got the puck on the left hash and attempted a cross ice pass to Matt their