BRINGIN’ IT HOME
The Battle of the Hudson begins at 3 this afternoon at the Rock. Call it the best of seven, plus one.
Boston’s defeat at home last night to the Sabres ensured the fratricidal first-round playoff match-up between the Rangers and Devils, the fifth ever and the second in the three post-lockout seasons.
If the Rangers win today’s regular-season finale in regulation, they will not only complete a heretofore unthinkable 8-0 sweep of the season series, they will gain the fourth seed and home-ice advantage in the series that would then likely open at the Garden on Wednesday.
But if the Devils either win or force the game to overtime – Brent Sutter will be with them, win or tie – then New Jersey will claim fourth in the East and the home-ice edge they exploited two years ago in the first-round sweep in which Jaromir Jagr dislocated his left shoulder trying to lasso Scott Gomez toward the end of his team’s Game 1 defeat.
“In my opinion, the playoffs start with this game,” Jagr said. “I think it’s a huge game for both teams.
“Having home-ice is huge.”
Still, with only home-ice on the line rather than the risk of a possible slide to sixth and a corresponding first round confrontation with Team Ovechkin, Tom Renney will consider whether it’s in the team’s playoff interests to sit Scott Gomez this afternoon.
Gomez, who did not practice yesterday, has been ineffective playing with very sore ribs since making a triumphant March 27 return at the Garden against the Devils after missing just one game with the injury he sustained in Philadelphia six days earlier.
“Scottie can’t hurt himself by playing, but the question he has to answer for me is whether he can be effective playing in the condition he’s in,” Renney said. “We’ll talk, and he’ll have to make it clear that he can.”
Blair Betts, who skated between Brendan Shanahan and Sean Avery at yesterday’s practice, will return after missing seven games following foot surgery. Renney also implied that Marek Malik would rejoin the lineup after sitting out the last five as a healthy scratch.
The Rangers are 15-4-5 in their last 24, but haven’t been nearly as formidable as they were heading into the playoffs a year ago off a 13-2-4 kick. In fact, other than the victories at home against the Penguins on Monday and at home against the Devils on March 27, their ability to earn a point in 20 of the last 24 isn’t quite so glittering in this era of the three-point, play-for-the-60-minute tie game.
“You can sense it in games and watching games on television that teams are playing for the point,” said Shanahan, who practiced without discomfort after ripping 12 shots on net in Friday’s 4-3 defeat. “That whole dynamic will change when the playoffs start.”
In a sense the playoffs start today, though neither team will be felled with a mortal wound if struck today with the first volley in this Battle of the Hudson.
“Obviously we would like to win and have that extra home game,” Henrik Lundqvist said. “But we’ll be at practice on Monday getting ready for the series either way.”
