NEWARK, NJ – The long standing nickname Ranger fans give to the Nassau Coliseum is “Madison Square Garden East” due to the number tremendous amount of Blueshirt backers who brave the Long Island Expressway when the team visits the Islanders.

Well, if the home of the Islanders is the eastern annex of the Rangers then after tonight the Prudential Center must be considered “Madison Square Garden West” after the Blueshirts 4-1 victory in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals.

“I almost have to look up to know you are on the road playing,” said the brilliant Henrik Lundqvist who was kept his team in the game by making the tough saves all night. “It’s like you are almost at the Garden. Truthfully, it’s great to have that support. It’s almost comforting to know you have great fans.”

After Ryan Callahan’s shorthanded goal broke a 1-1 tie 7:23 into the third, the contingent wearing blue started chanting for Lundqvist and Scott Gomez who was booed by his old club’s backers for most of the night. It made the well fought victory worth it.

“It’s Game 1; we know that and we are certainly happy to steal one here,” said coach Tom Renney.

Renney was being modest, since the Rangers didn’t steal anything, but earned the win with good defense, opportunistic offense and a tremendous 26 save effort by Lundqvist.

One at a time, the Rangers came through and fought back a Devils’ forecheck which kept the puck in the New York zone more than the team wanted it to be there. By holding serve, the Blueshirts were able to take advantage of Marty Brodeur’s aggressive play for the victory.

First came Callahan’s goal, which came off a rebound Brodeur tried to play rather than cover up. By being too fancy, he left a puck in front of the net and allowed the Rangers forward to come around the net and put it past him on a play which should have been handled by the veteran goaltender.

“My mouth widened a little bit there,” Callahan said. “I had my eyes on the puck. I wasn’t too sure if he was having trouble with it. I was just trying to get to it as quick as I could.”

With the lead, the Ranger fans took over and cheers came down upon the Blueshirts. It was enough to shift any momentum away from the Devils and when Sean Avery scored late in the period with Brodeur out of position, it sent anyone wearing red to the exits.

And Nigel Dawes scored an empty netter for the fourth Blueshirt goal.

But for almost 2 ½ periods, it wasn’t like that and the Rangers had to fight for every inch of ice. And after holding serve in the first, Brendan Shanahan gave his team the early lead just 1:45 into the second right after the Ranger power play ended. Screened by Gomez, the future Hall of Famer still has his shot and blasted it past Brodeur from the bottom of the right circle for the first score.

Unfortunately for the Rangers, that lead was short lived because New Jersey came back on the power play with a little more than five minutes left in the second. With Scott Gomez in the box, Marty Straka broke his stick blocking a shot from the point, essentially leaving the Rangers 5-3, since they could not clear the puck. Paul Martin was able to beat Lundqvist on a shot high where he wasn’t expecting it.

“A lot of bad things happen during the year when someone breaks a stick,” Lundqvist said. “There were pucks there three or four times and we were just all over the place. We did a great job, but [Martin] did a good move on the goal.”

The goal allowed the Rangers to opportunity to come back in the third and ultimately take back home ice.

Yet in Game 1, it looked like they had it already.

  E-mail this story |  Printer-friendly |  Discuss