Alliance... » After knocking the puck away

(SportsNetwork. Jonathan Ogden Jersey .com) - The New York Rangers hope to pick up where they left off before the Christmas break when they host the struggling New Jersey Devils in Saturdays Metropolitan Division clash at Madison Square Garden. The Devils, meanwhile, begin life without head coach Peter DeBoer, who was fired from his post on Friday. New Jersey general manager Lou Lamoriello told the media Saturday that the Devils will go forward with a unique coaching situation. Lamoriello said the Devils will use both Adam Oates and Scott Stevens behind the bench, with the former man handling the forwards and the latter taking charge of the defense, The Devils did not announce official titles for either Oates or Stevens and Lamoriello also said he also will be behind the bench for the time being. While Lamoriellos plan to replace DeBoer for the rest of the season is unorthodox, the decision to let the coach go was hardly surprising. The Devils are just 1-4-3 over their last eight games and find themselves nine points out of the final wild card spot in the Eastern Conference. Over four seasons with New Jersey, DeBoer has compiled a 114-93-41 record and guided the team to the playoffs during the 2011 season, his first with the Devils. DeBoers best season in New Jersey was his first as he guided the team to a 48-28-6 record in 2011-12. The Devils represented the Eastern Conference in the Stanley Cup Finals, but lost to the Los Angeles Kings in six games. DeBoer was able to get the Devils a a point in his final game behind the Devils bench, as Jersey dropped a shootout decision Tuesday against visiting Carolina. New Jersey grabbed the early lead on Tuesday when Stephen Gionta gave the hosts a 1-0 edge with 6:28 left in the first. The score stayed that way until Ron Hainsey evened things for Carolina with 8:01 remaining in the third. Chris Terry then scored the lone goal of the shootout to give the Hurricanes a 2-1 victory and drop the Devils to 1-2-1 on their four-game homestand. Cory Schneider stopped 32 shots through regulation and overtime, but he took the loss after allowing Terry to score in the third round of the shootout. We wanted to finish strong before the break, said Devils winger Mike Cammalleri. Its a little disappointing right now for sure. Cammalleri returned Tuesday from a four-game absence that caused him to miss four games, but the Devils played without forwards Patrik Elias, Martin Havlat and Jacob Josefson. Elias and Havlat have been sidelined with the mumps, and are not available for tonight. Josefson is questionable with a strained groin. New Jersey will likely go with Schneider as the starter for the 33rd time this season. The workhorse is 1-1-1 with a 1.79 GAA against the Rangers in his career. The Devils will try to halt a three-game road losing streak tonight, and are just 8-11-2 as the guest this season. New York earned its seventh consecutive victory and improved to 2-0 on a three-game homestand when it downed the Washington Capitals, 4-2, on Tuesday. The winning streak is the clubs longest since another seven-game run from Oct. 31-Nov. 15, 2011 and its also the longest current tear in the NHL. Another victory tonight would mark the franchises longest streak in four decades, as the club hasnt won eight in a row since Dec. 27, 1974-Jan. 11, 1975. The recent surge has helped push the Rangers into third place in the Metro. Tuesdays regulation win over the Capitals forged a tie for the divisions third and final automatic playoff berth, but New York holds the tiebreaker over Washington. Rick Nash recorded a hat trick on Tuesday, giving him 23 goals on the season, but his club had to hold off a late comeback attempt from the Capitals. Only Tyler Seguin has more goals (25) than Nash this season. Nashs second goal of the game made put New York ahead 3-0 at 5:12 of the third period, but Evgeny Kuznetsov tallied 41 seconds later for Washington. Alex Ovechkins power-play goal cut the deficit to 3-2 with 9:02 left in the third. The score would stay that way until Nash completed the hat trick with a power-play tally of his own with 3:48 remaining. Martin St. Louis added a power-play marker early in the second period for the Rangers, who went 2-for-7 on the man advantage. Derek Brassard had three assists and Mats Zuccarello chipped in two helpers for New York. Henrik Lundqvist earned the victory with 30 saves, with 19 of those stops coming in the final period. The team is playing good, we are winning games, and its a great feeling in here, St. Louis said. We did a good job of going out there and earning it every day. Weve taken nothing for granted. We take care of the opponents and we play seriously and weve been rewarded with some good plays. Lundqvist is expected to get the start tonight. The Swedish star boasts a 31-14-6 record, 1.89 goals against average, .931 save percentage and eight shutouts in his career against the Devils. As a team, New York has won three straight and six of the last nine meetings in this series. The Devils have taken two straight in NYC, but the Rangers are 11-5-3 at home this season after winning their last three at the Garden. Ronnie Stanley Jersey . -- Houstons All-Star tandem of James Harden and Dwight Howard refused to let the Rockets give in to fatigue. Justin Tucker Jersey . Lexie Lou earned a commanding 4 1/2-length win Sunday in the $500,000 Woodbine Oaks. http://www.cheapravensshoponline.com/Youth-Terrance-West-Ravens-Jersey/ . Louis still looking for a way out of Tampa Bay, the 38-year-old NHL veteran isnt showing his cards.Got a question on rule clarification, comments on rule enforcements or some memorable NHL stories? Kerry wants to answer your emails at cmonref@tsn.ca. Hi Kerry, I know the whistle tends to go away in playoff hockey, however shouldnt Erik Johnson have been assessed 2 min for delay of game for intentionally knocking his own net off (completely on his own) after racing back to save a goal (or at least a shot that was very close to going in) late in the game. Moments later Colorado pulls their goalie for a 6 on 5 game tying goal and of course Erik Johnson gets an assist on the game tying goal as well. Cheers,Mike Mike, This time, it was not a case of the refs whistle being put away but instead the correct judgment made that Erik Johnsons momentum accidentally displaced the net from its moorings. Johnson made a terrific play to rush back and knock the puck toward the corner as it was less than a foot away from entering the empty net. The only way that Johnson could keep the puck out of his net was with a full-speed sprint with no let-up until he contacted the puck with his stick. That sprint took Johnsons body position deep into the goal crease. After knocking the puck from harms way less than a foot from the line, the Avs defenceman shifted his focus and attempted to execute a hard stop. Johnsons close proximity to the goal frame, combined with his momentum, resulted in unavoidable contact with the gooal post. Alex Lewis Jersey. The correct determination was made by the referee on the play. While this wasnt the case, let me play out the various scenarios for you, Mike, if it had been ruled that Johnson displaced the goal post deliberately with 1:32 remaining in regulation time and with Colorado goalkeeper Semyon Varlamov on the bench for an extra attacker. - A minor penalty could not be assessed due to the fact that there was insufficient time remaining in regulation to serve the penalty in its entirety (or by reason of penalties already imposed or anytime in overtime). Instead a penalty shot would be awarded. (Rule 63.5) Varlamov would be allowed to return to his net and defend the shot. - An awarded goal shall be imposed when the goal has been displaced deliberately by the defending player when their goalkeeper has been removed for an extra attacker, thereby preventing an impending goal by the attacking team. (Rule 63.6). After knocking the puck away, had Johnson deliberately pushed the net off the moorings as Matt Cooke was in the act of shooting the puck into the net (impending goal) an awarded goal could result. For either of these situations to apply, it must be determined that the defending player "deliberately" displaced the goal post. That was not the case when Johnson accidentally and unavoidably made contact with the goal frame after knocking the puck away and saving a sure goal. Cheap NFL Jerseys Wholesale Jerseys Wholesale NFL Jerseys Jerseys From China Wholesale NFL Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys Cheap Jerseys ' ' '