What they’ve done against the Islanders is history. What they’ve done against the Devils is history, too, only of a very different nature.
For after Tuesday night’s victory at the Garden extended their winning streak this year to four games and their unbeaten streak overall to eight (6-0-2) against the Islanders, the Rangers last night hosted the Devils, a team they’d gone winless against in their last 10 (0-6-4) and had managed to win just two of their last 35 (2-21-12) regular-season matches.
Sort of like the sun, rising to the east, setting to the west.
“Of course, the most important thing for us is to win, not because it’s the Devils, but because of what all our games mean to us in the standings,” Bobby Holik said, “but I think it’s important for us to prove we can compete against them because of their stature in the league.
“Even when they are going through a down stretch, the way they are now – maybe because of injuries, maybe for other reasons – they still remain the standard of excellence if not for the league, then for the East.
“It has nothing to do with my personal situation coming from there, but I think beating them would give us a big boost in morale and confidence.”
The Rangers had gone 2-0-0-1 in their last three, and entered last night’s match two games over NHL .500, a station they’d occupied three times earlier this season, but had not been able to improve upon, losing each time they attempted to take another step up.
Indeed, the Blueshirts hadn’t been three games over since Feb. 13, 2002, when a loss to Dallas left the club with a 28-25-4-3 record. The Devils, meanwhile, had gone 3-5-2-1 in their previous 11 and were 10 games over league break-even.
If the Rangers entered last night’s match with a degree of confidence off their complete-game victory over the Islanders, they were also likely to get a boost from the absence of Scott Stevens. He was sidelined for his fourth straight game with a serious case of the flu, missed his first game against the Blueshirts since March 4, 1992, a streak that included 59 straight regular-season games plus 19 playoff matches.
“Any time a team is missing its strength you know there are going to be adjustments,” said Holik, “and especially with them because they’re not very big up front, and Scott’s presence means so much from a physical standpoint.
“But their defensemen are very quick laterally and move the puck so well that we can’t be fooled or misled just because Scott is not playing. We certainly would be making a big mistake if we think this in any way is going to be easy.
“No matter how they’re going, no matter who they have in, we have to play our best game against them.”
*
Pascal Rheaume, who was sidelined by a knee injury the first time the teams met, a 5-0 Devils’ rout at the Meadowlands on Nov. 15, faced his former team for the first time since leaving New Jersey’s qualifying offer on the table to become a free agent.
Rheaume, who played fourth-line center for the Devils during last year’s playoffs, was expecting to receive his Stanley Cup ring prior to the match. The Devils presented Joe Nieuwendyk with his in Toronto on Saturday.
