It's Good To Be King

Last night in front of the Garden faithful, greater Manhattan was rewarded with one of King Henrik Lundqvist's near perfect performances.  The King stopped 41 of 42 in defeating the New Jersey Devils, Ilya Kovalchuk in tow, 3-1.

Lundqvist stopped 22 shots through the first two periods before being blitzed by a desperate New Jersey offense for 20 shots in the third period.  Dainius Zubrus broke up Lundqvist's shutout at 11:11 of the third on a quick deflection into the top shelf off of a centering pass from Patrick Elias.

Marian Gaborik, of course, scored again for the offensively challenged Blueshirts, while the second line of Callahan-Jokinen-Dubinsky looked great for the majority of the game. Callahan had a goal and an assist in the win.

 Seems a little premature for Rangers fans to get excited, but it looks like Glen Sather's ability to dump his own misguided signings has given the Rangers a reason to think that they might be destined for a playoff appearance with only a second round exit in mind, as opposed to a first.

The Devils looked like a team that is yet to find its rhythm with newly acquired superstar Ilya Kovalchuk.  Although he obviously adds a whole different offensive dynamic to a rather offensively light Devil's team, it looks like it will take a few more games for this newly formed unit to click.  Obviously, Devil's fans are going to be quick to point out the Devils outburst in the final few minutes of the Maple Leafs game but I point to the misguided decision to start Jonas Gustavsson instead of newly-acquired J.S Giguere (who is still yet to allow a goal in a Maple Leaf's uniform).

Last night, New York City belonged to Henrik Lundqvist.  Given his success against Marty Brodeur and the cross-town Devils, I think Jersey better pray they don't draw the Blueshirts at any point come playoff time.