Second Intermission - A little better. Slow start once again, and another goal for the Rangers made it look bleak, but they came back strong late in the period. Madden’s goal was a thing of beauty for this team right now. Rugged, standing his ground in front of the net, digging the puck out of Lundqvist’s pads and putting them OVER Henrik. Novel idea, right, shooting HIGH on the guy with refrigerator doors for pads? It happened late enough in the period that hopefully it carries over into the third.

Voros’ goal pissed me off a little. Not the fact that he scored, but the way he reacted made me sick. He got jostled a little as he scored, and got up and got in Colin White’s face, then kind of backed off and raised his arms, but in a really aggressive, “F-you” kind of way. I wish Colin would have just decked him right there, but of course not.

Alot more offense later on, actual pressure and sustained offensive chances. To borrow a Doc-ism, the Unseen Hand certainly turned in the Devils’ favor starting around the halfway point in the second.

I may or may not be back with a game recap, as I should be in bed already. Regardless, if they keep playing like they did in the last few minutes of the second for the rest of the game, they’ve still got a chance.

Oh…and SHOOT HIGH!

First Intermission - That was not the start I expected. All the talk of not being a doormat, remembering what happened last year, getting revenge - what did it bring? Five shots on goal, six tops? Whatever the final tally, there was a gigantic stretch of time in the middle when they couldn’t get a single shot on Lundqvist. There’s just no excuse, not in the first game against a team you could only beat twice in thirteen games last year. This is supposed to be a statement, and right now, it isn’t one.

I wish I knew what was up with Marty in Ranger games, but he seems good for one major gaffe against them every other game or so. Yes, the puck was deflected by Oduya, but it’s like football - if you can get your hand on it, you can catch it. Methinks Marty was thinking too far ahead in the play - who he was going to get it to on the breakout, perhaps - and forgot to actually catch the thing.

All that said, it’s still only 1-0. The Devils have been in this situation twice this year, and twice they’ve come back from it, so there’s every reason to believe they will do it again. See you during the second intermission.

Pre-game - My original goal tonight was to do the first LiveCap of ‘08-’09, but I just got a phone call telling me to be in work at 5 AM tomorrow. So, since I’ll likely be in bed before the end of this evening’s game, please watch this space for between-period updates, opinions, and so on and so forth. I’ll update at least after the first and hopefully after the second as well. Enjoy the game and LET’S GO DEVILS!

TSN is reporting that Rangers 2007 first round pick Alexei Cherepanov has died after collapsing on the bench towards the end of a game with Russian team Omsk of the Kontenential Hockey League in Russia. He was 19 years old.

Everyone here at 2 Man Advantage send our condolences to Cherepanov’s family, friends, fans, and teammates. He may have been drafted by the Rangers, but he was a member of a much larger hockey family that transcends fan/team affiliation. The hockey world lost one hell of a young player this afternoon.

I’d like to thank everyone who dropped by and hung around for the Live-Cap of the Devils/Rangers game a few nights ago.  As you may have noticed, we’re toying with something new as far as the structure of our Live-Cap is concerned.

Frankly, the maiden voyage has generated some mixed reviews.  It mainly breaks down like this:

But on a serious note…

- Those of you that attended and interacted in the Live-Cap had fun with it and seem to be giving it a thumbs up.

- Readers who checked it out after everything was wrapped up (I happen to fall into this category) are generating the more negative responses.

There are also plenty of readers I’ve spoken to that need to see some more of it before they can form an opinion.

This being the case, I wanted to let all of our readers & fans know that we truly appreciate your feedback on the matter and we assure you that we are listening to your advice and we will be trying different approaches, set-ups, and structures for our Live-Caps for the remainder of the pre-season.  We would love it if as many of you as possible could get involved and be a part of the process.

More or less, we’d like to use the comment-thread for this post as a braindump for you and ourselves to share ideas and explore some possible improvements.  So get to typing!!

I’d also like to point out that there is not necessarily a definite change taking place to the Live-Cap structure.  It’s very possible that we could end up using the original format, thus wasting our time after all. ;)  Hey, change isn’t always a bad thing.  Just ask Larry Robinson.

Thanks again for getting involved, 2MA loves you!

Click Here for tonight’s Devils/Rangers LIVECAP! (LiveCap will launch in new window)

Dear sir or madam,

The gentlemen and lady of www.2manadvantage.com request the honor of your presence the evening of September the 24th, 2008.  The occasion marks the first world-famous 2MA LiveCap of the 2008-09 National Hockey…

Ah screw it, I can’t do high-class.  Let me start again:

YOU!  ME!  LIVECAPPING!  TOMORROW NIGHT!  BE THERE OR BE…ELSEWHERE!

In all seriousness, the first livecap of the season will take place tomorrow night for the Devils home pre-season opener against the Rangers.  Be here around 7ish.  I have intentions on testing out what I believe will be a new, improved LiveCapping format.  What will be so awesome about it?  Well, for one, I’ll see your comments in real-time and will be able to approve them the second you make them.  That’ll speed up the conversation.  Also, everything (should) occur in real-time - no more refreshing the page for updates.  If Steve, Joe, Scott, or maybe even Patty happen to be around, they’ll be able to LiveCap right there with me - literal 2 Man Advantage LiveCap!

In the end though, it’ll be your feedback that will decide whether we move to this new program full-time or revert to the format of years past.  So please, come check it out tomorrow night and let me know what you think.  I’m optimistic that it’s going to be awesome.

See y’all tomorrow night!