The three are all directly related.

The Devils have been playing a lot of solid hockey lately, but that alone would not be enough to put them where they are.  It took a little help from our buddies in blue across the river. (See Fig 1-A, right.)  The Rangers recently cleaned up a 7-game-long skidmark in the teams collective underpants with a 4-1 win over the Capitals.  During that slide, the Devils earned big points and currently hold a 5 point lead over the Rangers for first place in the Division.  Boy, I love January!

 

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If you haven’t noticed, Scott Gomez isn’t exactly a fan favorite around here - and for good reason.  In the salary cap era, if you are going to cry and bitch for the amount of money that Gomez did, you damn well better produce.  I’m sorry, but 5 goals half way through the season is not exactly worth $5 million. Sadly, I don’t believe Scott will be going via trade.  If at all, it would be at the trade deadline, set at the unusually early date of Feb. 27th.  (Psst..Lou: Gomez for Kopitar!!) Hey, Leave me and my NHL07 trades alone!

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Well, that leads us into tonight’s matchup.  A Devils/Rangers game is always a good time, no matter what the circumstances!  (Hey, I still had fun 1997-2001!!)  Some may look at the standings and say it’s not a huge game, and I call those people idiots.  With the Division the way it is so far, a single point could mean the difference between making and not making the playoffs. 

 

Bottoms up - there ain’t nothing like a Tuesday night brawl in The Swamp!