AUTHOR: The Maven TITLE: Winning and losing momentum DATE: 10/19/2006 04:28:00 PM ----- BODY:

Having watched the rousing Rangers’ 4-2 win over the Devils at the Garden on Monday, I was convinced that the Blueshirts had found Momentum Boulevard and were ready to go into high gear against Nashville when the Predators came to visit on Wednesday night. Conversely after their defeat in Manhattan, I figured that Claude Julien’s sextet would succumb to the high intensity Penguins when Evgeni Malkin returned to the Penguins’ lineup at Mellon Arena. This only goes to prove that hockey often defies logic. Not that the Rangers played badly against the Preds, but they certainly lacked any kind of opportunism blowing two 5 on 3 opportunities while Tomas Vokoun out-goaled Henny Lundqvist. My point is that the Rangers automatically suffered a letdown after being pumped for the Devils game. Yet when I talked directly to Jaromir Jagr, Darius Kasparaitis and Lundqvist about this, none of them agreed. “We’re professionals,” said Jagr, “and we should be up for every game.” Jagr still hasn’t found his game; or at least we saw every night last season. Coach Tom Renney is acutely aware of this, and said as much during his post game media chat. Renney believes that the captain requires more time to find his Rangers MVP-type groove. The question is how long, and will others compensate in the meantime? We’ll have a better idea after the Rangers’ Saturday night game in Toronto. Meanwhile, the Devils can develop some momentum Thursday night at the Meadowlands when they face the same Nashville team that defeated New York. The most encouraging sign of all coming off the 2-1 win in Pittsburgh on Wednesday night was the performance of three new defensemen – Johnny Oduya, Alex Brooks, and Jim Fahey – none of whom were with the team last year. Brooks is a helluva of a story. A career minor leaguer, he was summoned from New Jersey’s AHL farm team in Lowell to fill in for injured veteran Brad Lukowich. Brooks got an assist against the Rangers and was plus one – on the ice for Jamie Langenbrunner’s winner against Pitt. His defense partner, Fahey, was also plus one. Oduya, who logged 19 minutes of ice time, came out even. It’ll be interesting to have a measure up Thursday night against the hard skating Predators.

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