Brodeur and White out, Rangers put Todd White on waivers

The second Hudson Battle is two hours away. Though I won't see any of it due to a Procal Harum concert in Westbury with Dad. They're a great 60's group that's part of that British wave. Should be fun.

As for tonight, the Devils look to make it two in a row. Can the newly formed Kovalchuk-Zajac-Langenbrunner line do damage? They'll be banking on their top two lines, including Elias-Arnott-Clarkson if they want to get a 'W' against the visiting Rangers, who enter off a 4-1 disappointment at the hands of the Flyers. With King Henrik in net and Tort disliking his team's effort, figure them to be ready.

It will be odd without Martin Brodeur, whose bruised elbow suffered the other night keeps him out against his favorite nemesis. Johan Hedberg gets the call. Don't be surprised if he plays well. He has a history of stoning the Rangers. By no means will it be easy. The Devs are also without Colin White but get Anton Volchenkov back. That's a nice trade even if White is still a good team guy who plays hard. Andy Greene notched his second in the win over the Hawks. Keep an eye on him and rookie Matt Taormina. Either Stephen Gionta- younger brother of Brian- will make his NHL debut or Patrick Davis will be in for John MacLean.

With the Rangers waiving Todd White (no shock), it looks like they'll go with the same lineup as last night with the Boogey Man back in fresh off his scrap with one-time Ranger Jody Shelley. Unless Ruslan Fedotenko can't go following Dan Carcillo's hit, there won't be any changes. Another game for Evgeny Grachev, whose size is evident. Can he provide a spark for slumping Derek Stepan? The Devils will concentrate on blanketing the Homegrown Line (Dubinsky-Anisimov-Callahan). With Avery-Stepan-Fedotenko broken up, there's not much else to concern themselves with. Especially as Russian enigma Alex Frolov continues to be stuck on two goals. One player to keep an eye on is Erik Christensen, who's been shooting more and playing better. Thus far, Dan Girardi and Michal Rozsival have been the club's best on the blueline. Is this the game Mike Del Zotto explodes?

We'll see. Figure it to be heated, intense and physical as well as emotional in the stands. Can't wait to catch the replay.

Parise leaves loss to Kings with injury

Things went from bad to worse for the Devils. During their latest defeat by a count of 3-1 to the Kings, homegrown star wing Zach Parise left the game with an injury following a collision with LA wing Kyle Clifford with 3:40 left in the second period. As WFAN radio tandem Matt Loughlin and Sherry Ross updated in the postgame, it's being termed a "lower body" injury.

Parise immediately flew back to New Jersey to be examined by team doctors. It could be potentially serious with it being a knee injury. Hopefully for No.9 and the Devils, they'll get more encouraging news.

"I didn't see him come out for the third. Hopefully it's nothing major," linemate Travis Zajac told The Ledger's Rich Chere. "Right now is not the time to lose a player like that."

Throughout a seven-year career, the '03 first round gem has been one of the most durable players in the league, only missing three games while becoming an All-Star. Arguably the best American, he became a folk hero with his dramatic tying goal that forced sudden death against Canada in the Vancouver Olympics. Even though Sidney Crosby broke USA hearts, the clutch goal along with a virtuoso performance in the tournament put Zach Attack on the radar. It followed up a breakout '08-09 season in which he established career bests in goals (45), assists (49), points (94), plus/minus (30), power play goals (14), power play points (30), shorthanded points (3), shots on goal (364) and matched his previous high in game-winners (8).


In 12 games this season including tonight, Parise was 3-3-6. Under first-year coach John MacLean, the team's struggled to find chemistry despite having Ilya Kovalchuk signed long-term along with '00 Cup hero Jason Arnott reunited with Patrik Elias. Regrettably, the Minnesota native entered Saturday tied with Arnott and Kovalchuk for the club lead in goals. After getting Jamie Langenbrunner's first and Elias' second in a 2-1 win over Anaheim Friday, they only got one against Jon Quick despite outshooting LA 20-4 in the third minus Parise. Surprise rookie defenseman Matt Taormina notched the only marker, putting him into a share of the lead with three. Before the Devils could attempt tying a game they trailed by two, Jarret Stoll scored 24 seconds later.

The Devils fell to 1-3-0 on the six-game trip with a pair of tough games against Vancouver tomorrow and defending Cup champ Chicago Wednesday. When they finally return home, the Rangers will be waiting for them.

Losing Parise for any stretch would be a crusher. Especially since he's a tireless worker who combines his speed and skill along with a great work ethic that makes him a fan favorite. The Devils are also still without defenseman Anton Volchenkov, who sat out a 10th straight game with a broken nose. He has begun skating and could return soon. They're probably holding the gritty ex-Senator out until the November 5 game versus the Blueshirts.

In the mean time, it'll be up to Kovalchuk who again was held off the board and booed roundly by Staples Center to pick up the slack. The electrifying Russian superstar finished with only two shots along with a minus-one rating in 20:18. It'll take a total team effort for New Jersey to turn it around. They'll enter Monday's contest at Vancouver with an East worst 3-8-1 mark for eight points, trailing only other Battle disappointment Buffalo who fell yet again 4-zip at Dallas.

As noted NJD blogger Hasan might say, something has to give.

Del Zotto's OT winner gives Rangers preseason sweep of Devils

Being at a fantasy hockey draft in a league I'm defending, it's fairly tough to pay attention to these exhibitions. But we did catch a little bit early of the Hudson rematch along with the tail end that saw second-year blueliner Mike Del Zotto convert into a gaping net for the Rangers' second straight overtime win over the Devils by a wild count of 5-4 at The Rock.

For those wondering if you'll see that during any of the cool half dozen regular season match-ups, you just might. Let me be blunt. Both team defenses aren't that good. And the Devils seem to have gone from all D to offensive all the time. Yes. They should be quite potent with the Dream Line (Parise-Zajac-Kovalchuk) blazing opponents with Devil fire. And the new A-Line of Jason Arnott, Patrik Elias and Jamie Langenbrunner should provide nightmares. If the Devs' third line is a combo of Brian Rolston, Dainius Zubrus, David Clarkson and maybe Swede rookie Jacob Josefson, that shouldn't be bad either. But the challenging roster decisions Lou Lamoriello is faced with involves cutting salaries like Rolston and perhaps Bryce Salvador, who didn't look great tonight. Would they really cut ties with character guy Colin White? This blogger doubts it.

As for a game that saw the bitter rivals combine for nine after scoring seven at MSG the other day, Henrik Lundqvist was pedestrian in the first allowing a shortside Kovalchuk bomb off a turnover forced by who else but Parise and a routine Andy Greene wrister five-hole that had the Jersey hosts in front 2-1 after one. But the Devils despite dressing many regulars blew a pair of two-goal leads, with new backup Johan Hedberg permitting the final three in which he was hardly at fault. The Devs were victimized by a Ranger power play that converted four different times including Ruslan Fedotenko's tying marker off a Matt Gilroy setup. Yes. Fedotenko had a good game scoring and setting up Ryan Callahan to bolster his chances.

A late David Clarkson tug in the final minute of regulation led to Del Zotto's decider when just 52 seconds into the extra five, he took a Callahan cross-ice feed and calmly shot over an out of position Hedberg, who lost his stick. Taking up space in front was Tim Kennedy, who drew a secondary helper. Gilroy also got credit for a PPG which was largely due to Sean Avery being his usual self in front. He got in Kovalchuk's face a few times and also was leveled by Anton Volchenkov early on. There were two more scraps with Clarkson and Dane Byers going along with Kris Newbury and Salvador when Elias gave the AHLer a crosscheck.

Both goalies finished with predictable ugly lines with Lundqvist allowing four on 29 shots while Hedberg gave up five on 20. Parise netted three assists and Kovalchuk had a goal and a helper as did Greene. Undrafted Devil defenseman Matt Taormina also scored. For the Rangers, Del Zotto had four points (1-3-4) and Callahan three (1-2-3) with Artem Anisimov also tallying. Evgeny Grachev didn't stand out registering no shots. Though he did beat Salvador late with some solid board work to setup a chance.

If these two games were any indication, Battle fans should be in for a treat this season.