AUTHOR: The Maven TITLE: How's this for irony? DATE: 10/13/2006 02:46:00 PM ----- BODY:

Two of the NHL’s best goalies each allows six goals on the same night. So, does that mean Henny Lundqvist and Marty Brodeur have lost it? Hardly. Call it an aberration; otherwise known as an eccentricity. There’s another cogent explanation; this is the new NHL. Or as Brodeur puts it: “That’s the way the games are now.” The most subtle – and pivotal – move of all in the Devils’ 7-6 shootout win over Toronto belonged to Claude Julien. New Jersey’s coach very easily could have yanked Marty after the second period replacing him with Scott Clemmensen. Few would have argued with the move. As a matter of fact, before the third period began I turned to one of my colleagues and simply said, “Would you yank him?” The answer was affirmative. But Julien stuck with his man; Marty shutout Toronto in the third period, was sensational in overtime and decisive in the shootout. According to my thinking, Julien, as much as anybody gets credit for the win. “You make goalie changes when you don’t think your goalie is on his game,” Julien explains. “We didn’t give him much help. And there were a lot of goals off sticks and deflections. One thing I know about Marty is he’s a character guy and he wanted to fight this.” The one thing I learned about the Devs is that the defense needs work. Hopefully, David Hale will soon be cleared to play. But if that doesn’t happen, Scott Lachance could turn out to be a savior in the Tommy Albelin genre. In the meantime, the Devs can glow over Brian Gionta’s first NHL hat trick and the fact that Mighty Mite is as sharp as ever in front of the enemy net. By the way, it was Gionta who proved pivotal in the shootout. Remember, Toronto was up 1-0 after the first shootout round and was still leading 1-0 before the Gionta attempt. The little man easily beat Jean-Sebastien Aubin, paving the way for John Madden’s winner on the fourth attempt. One other item of note, the Devils’ discipline helped. New Jersey only had one penalty to the Leafs’ five and the Devs scored two power play goals. WHAT’S WITH THE RANGERS? For starters, coach Tom Renney has to make peace with Darius Kasparitis. There’s no point in biting off your nose despite your face. Kasper is an integral member of the team; vital for team chemistry as well as his hitting. At the moment the Blueshirts’ defense – same as the Devils’ – needs work. As my Ranger-watching sidekick, PJ Lally says: “Every time I’d turn around, the Pens were storming down the ice on one of their numerous odd-man rushes.” The Blueshirts are in Buffalo Saturday night and if I was Renney I would make two lineup insertions; Kevin Weekes between the pipes and Kasparitis on D.

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