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Lady Luck has been the theme of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinal match up thus far between the Rangers and the Devils. Last night, the Devils scored three goals off fortunate bounces, including the game winner by John Madden in overtime, which bounced off of Marc Staal’s right skate. The previous two games featured goals on the Rangers side that a uncharacteristically human looking Martin Brodeur would have never let in, such as Ryan Callahan’s goal as Brodeur let a rebound sit around the net, or Jaromir Jagr’s goal off of Marty’s back to jumpstart the Rangers’ attack in game 2.

This is what playoff hockey is all about though. Goals are nearly impossible to come by, and when they come they are usually in the flukiest of manners. Martin Brodeur and any Ranger fan will tell you about that (see 1994 and 1997 playoff wrap around goals). As a die-hard fan of the Rangers, last night was heartbreaking to me, to see such a fantastic game end on a puck knocked in off a skate. These kinds of bounces really do change the dynamics of power in a series. The Rangers need to put this behind them, and recognize the positives in their game, which include a coming of age of Brandon Dubinsky and the other young Rangers, and the overall domination of the Devils thus far. Nobody thought the Devils were going to go down in four, myself included. The next game in my eyes is a must win for the Rangers. To go back to the Rock with a 3-1 lead would pretty much deflate the Devils’ hopes, and hopefully move the Rangers to the next round.

A few thoughts about the game last night:

1) Sean Avery pulled off one of the most genius plays that I have seen in hockey in a long time. To completely turn your back to the play to “guard” Marty Brodeur basketball style to set up a screen was fantastic. I don’t care what anyone says about gamesmanship, I guarantee that you will see more of that happening in the NHL.

2) Brandon Dubinsky is going to be a great player in this league for a long time.

3) How does Fedor Tyutin have such a brain lapse? He is an NHL player for God’s sake, what is he doing catching the puck in his hands and passing it. That really could have ruined a lot of hard work last night.

4) Marc Staal, skate incident aside, had yet another under the radar game where he just makes the plays that need to be made. He is so steady on the blue line.

5) The Devils are a tough team to deal with in the corners. Brent Sutter really knows how to execute a forecheck. I sometimes wish the Rangers would do a little more of that.

6) Chris Drury, while doing nothing poorly, has been relatively quiet thus far. I hope this is a quiet before the storm type situation where he ends up scoring a series changing goal.

7) As much as I like Ryan Hollweg’s grittiness in the line up, the guy just cannot handle a puck at all. And last night, he was barely throwing the body around, so what is the point of having him in the lineup? I hope Colton Orr comes back from the toe injury soon, because at least he isn’t an absolute waste of space with the puck.

8 ) Petr Prucha, oh how your stock has dropped. You score 30 goals in your rookie season, and now you can’t even crack the fourth line on the Rangers.

Alrighty boys, go get the W on Wednesday and put the nail in the coffin.