RANGER NOTES

The Stephane Matteau, Game 7, double-OT wraparound that ended the epochal 1994 Eastern Conference Finals banked in off Devils defenseman Slava Fetisov’s skate, but still, when combined with Adam Graves’ Game 5 OT wraparound that ended the 1997 conference semis, the perception was created that Martin Brodeur had trouble moving laterally to play pucks at his feet.

Tom Renney said yesterday he did not necessarily believe that perception to be reality, but the Rangers’ head coach did say, “We see holes in his game in other places.”

Though Renney – surprise, surprise – did not elaborate, he did say, “You have to make Marty think about more than the puck; it’s about how you attack [the Devils].

“He’s brilliant,” Renney said of Brodeur, the three-time Stanley Cup winner whom Renney coached to a silver medal at last spring’s World Championship tournament. “He’s a terrific competitor. He has a broad back.”

*

Though Jaromir Jagr, Martin Straka, Michal Nylander, Martin Rucinsky, Steve Rucchin and Jason Ward all missed practice yesterday with a stomach virus they contracted between the end of Wednesday’s practice and yesterday morning, Renney said he did not believe their absences would have a significant impact on the club’s preparation for tomorrow afternoon’s playoff opener at the Meadowlands.

“It delays it a little bit, it interrupts it, but I don’t see it as a problem,” said Renney, who expected all of the ailing players to skate today.

*

Sandis Ozolinsh, the adventurous one, will return to the blue line after being scratched from the season finale.

“My instinct is to try to create something, but I have to let the play come to me and try to keep the game as simple as possible,” said Ozolinsh, a Cup winner with the 1996 Avalanche and a Cup finalist with the 2003 Mighty Ducks. “If I have a play, I’ll look to make it, but if not, I have to make the safe play, maybe just chip it out, and make sure to keep the puck as far as possible away from the net.”