Well, we won. And we did so against a pretty complete Devils team with the exception of injuries to Langenbrunner, Jannsen, and I believe Colin White and Brodeur just not dressing. Other than that you had their whole team. The Rangers on the other hand didn’t play Jagr, Gomez, Hossa, Drury, Prucha, Lundqvist, Rozsival, Malik, Tyutin, and Mara. So basically 5 of your top 6 scoring forwards, and your #1,2,3, and 5 defenseman.

And they did so in a fairly dominating way for most of the game. I was however sad to see Big Vally play a relatively poor game in net for the Blueshirts. He looked very slow to react, and outside of a nice glove and blocker save on Parise and Gionta (I believe), he looked shaky. It’s still preseason, so don’t take too much stock in that. Also, the team in front of him played a lot worse than in front of Montoya. Still, there were some really positive things to take from this game, mostly surrounding the youth.

Hugh Jessiman played a fairly good game. He started off strong, then sort of tailed off and was invisible for large stretches (tough for a guy that big). I think he needs to put on more upperbody strength. You can tell his core and legs are very strong, but his upper body could use more bulk.

I only pray I can watch tomorrows game in its entirety. If not, I’m going to flip my lid.

-Inferno

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See, I’d love to give you some great amazing insight (not likely)….or, even useless opinions (much more likely), but I really can’t. As many of you probably know by now, DirecTV decided to blackout todays game right at the start of the 2nd period. Why? I have no idea, they really didn’t give me an answer that sounded right. First they told me it was because of a technical error, then they told me it was because MSG can decide to blackout a game anytime they want. Either way, I’m not happy.

However I am watching the game on Sopcast, but the quality is just brutal. Still, a few things I did notice… Dubinsky looks ready. I know I’ve said it a lot that he could use more time in the minors, but I think I’m wrong, he looks ready. He looks very much an NHLer, and he looks like a player who can make those around him better. Anisimov also doesn’t look out of place, but he needs a bit more time to get stronger. Kaspar, looks pretty bad at times. Hes in better shape, but he wasnt very good in his own zone, and as a defenseman, thats where you need to shine. He also hasn’t thrown a major hit yet, so with both of those being negative, he might not be an NHL player anymore folks. Its sad, but its very possible.

-Inferno

P.S. If you want to call up DirecTV and give your outrage to them, be my guest. The people I talked to were schmucks.

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Ok, the kids looked good. Real good. Really really good. Actually, Id say the kids looked better than the vets. In my personal opinion 2 of the more invisible players on the ice were Marty Straka and Brendan Shanahan, whereas the 3 best players were probably Dan Girardi (who was simply spectacular in my opinion), Marc Staal (steady, poised, very good) and Hugh Jessiman.

Speaking of Hugh, give him 2 big assists on both Rangers goals. He may have not actually touched the puck in either case, but his presence drew a crowd to him, allowing 2 of his teammates, Callahan and Byers to get relatively easy goals.

Regarding Weekes getting run over. Look, I feel bad for the guy, cause I really think hes a good person who never made waves…but that really wasn’t big time contact there. I definitely think Avery deserved the penalty he got, but the contact with Weekes looked very minor. Not sure why exactly he was knocked out and having trouble moving his feet, but from what I saw, it didn’t look like a particularly violent collision. I think he may have hurt his knees on the play falling awkwardly, and that may be why he was having trouble walking. Watch the play again, Kevin bends his knees badly before falling over. My guess is, minor concussion, and some knee damage.

Sean Avery….If hes on your team, you love him, if you’re playing against him, hes a scumbag. Im glad hes on my team, because if I were a Devils fan, I’d be pretty pissed at his antics out there today

-Inferno

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