Road Warrior Devils, Superstar Injuries

Off to a perfect 7-0-0 start on the road following Saturday's 2-1 shootout win in Tampa, the Devils are proving to be real Road Warriors, playing intelligent, gritty, resilient hockey.

Take Saturday for example. No Paul Martin. No Johnny Oduya. No Jay Pandolfo. (Still) no Patrick Elias.

No Problem.

Hold the Lightning to 9 shots on goal through 40 minutes of play, but allow them to tie it up on a fluky bounce in the third period.

No problem.

Pummel Antero Nittymaki with wave after wave of shots, but score only once through 65 minutes of play.

No problem.

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Isles Honor My Mom, Win Big

It was a perfect night at the Nassau Coliseum. I celebrated my birthday, the Islanders beat the Rangers and my mother was honored during a ceremony in the first period.

About six weeks ago, I submitted my mom Annmarie's cancer-survivor story to the Islanders for a program they were running. She beat leukemia better than the Islanders could ever beat the Rangers. The best stories were selected and the survivors were honored last night at the 14-minute mark of the first period.

It just so happened to be a game against the hated Rangers and fell on my birthday - making it a great time. There were about 10 guests, who stood where the zambonis enter and exit the ice, and waved at the camera as their names and hometowns were said over the loudspeaker. It was nice.

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The Secret About Enver Lisin

Oh no. Our little secret has been discovered.

That was among my first throughts when I heard that 23 year-old Enver Lisin was being bumped up to play on the Rangers top line alongside star forwards Marian Gaborik and Vinny Prospal.

Oh no. Our little secret has been discovered.

I had the same reaction when Lisin scored a big third-period goal against his former team, the Phoenix Coyotes, last night at Madison Square Garden.

Oh no. Our little secret has been discovered.

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Are These Suspendable Hits or Not?

Frightening scene in Philly on Saturday where David Booth of the Panthers was laid out on a hit by Flyers captain Mike Richards.

Any time you see a player motionless on the ice and then being taken off, immobilized on a stretcher, it give you pause for how dangerous a game this great sport can be.

Fortunately Booth is already out of the hospital, being released yesterday after sustaining a concussion on the play. But it was still extremely scary to watch Booth absorb the hard hit after dropping a pass to his left, and then hit the ice head-first, and remain motionless thereafter.

If you have yet to do so, check out the hit here.

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Retooled Habs Look to Bounce Back

The Montreal Canadiens spent the better part of their summer retooling the coaching staff and roster following a second place finish in the Northeast Division, 8th place in the Eastern Conference, and getting swept by the Bruins in the opening round of the playoffs.

Now, nine games into the 2009-10 season, the question is: where exactly are the new-look Canadiens after all of the changes?

The answer from new head coach Jacques Martin is, "a work in progress."

"It takes a while, not only from the players standpoint, but from that of a coach," Martin told me this morning at the Bell Centre. "It takes me a while as a coach to really appreciate what a player brings to the table. And as for the team, I think we have progressed, but it will take some time."

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Canada Deserves More NHL Teams

Hard to argue with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who would like to see more NHL teams in the land of the maple leaf.

Canadian fans watched two franchises relocate to the U.S. -- Quebec to Denver and Winnipeg to Phoenix (now Glendale, Ariz.) -- in the mid 1990s, and BlackBerry mogul Jim Balsillie was thwarted in his attempts at bringing an American franchise to Hamilton, Ontario.

You probably could build a hockey rink in the middle of nowhere in Canada, and the team would sell out every game.

Of course, a fan base has never been the problem in Canada. The Quebec Nordiques and Winnipeg Jets did very well, thank you, drawing fans to their respective arenas.

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Thrashers Need to Sign Kovalchuk

If the Atlanta Thrashers ever hope to make serious inroads in Georgia's sporting landscape -- is it even possible to compete with the Braves, Falcons, college football and NASCAR? -- they can't afford to lose their most exciting players.

Hockey is a tough sell in the South as it is, which is why the Thrashers had better find a way to keep star left wing Ilya Kovalchuk in town. Either that, or trade him for a bushel of talent.

Of course, you might ask why the talented Russian would want to keep playing in a city that doesn't really appreciate hockey and for a team that has missed the playoffs six times in his first seven NHL seasons.

At any rate, Thrashers general manager Don Waddell, who somehow manages to hang onto his job despite the club's ineptness just about every year, is trying to sign Kovalchuk to a new contract before he becomes an unrestricted free agent at the end of this season.

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Kopitar and Kings on the Rise

Los Angeles Kings forward Anze Kopitar (photo left) and his teammates may not have been able to celebrate the last two nights following road losses to the Rangers and Red Wings, but there already has been---and will be---plenty to celebrate this season for one of the league's youngest and most exciting teams.

The Kings are 4-3-0 to start the season, but the somewhat-unexciting record should not overshadow the good things taking place with the Kings. They are a gifted offensive team, backstopped by an emerging young goaltender in Jonathan Quick, and with a strong defense featuring a nice blend of veterans---headed by 38 year-old Sean O'Donnell and Stanley Cup winner Rob Scuderi---and youngsters---including the talented threesome of Drew Doughty (19), Davis Drewiske (24), and Jack Johnson (22).

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Young Avs NHL's Biggest Surprise

So what's the deal with this young bunch of Colorado Avalanche?

Who would have thought these guys would be 5-1-1 through the season's first seven games, with a 3-1-1 record in the first five games of what could have been a disastrous seven-game road trip?

Not me, and probably not anybody else, either.

The Avalanche was coming off a last-place finish in the Western Conference; team president Pierre Lacroix fired just about everybody in the front office and coaching staff; longtime captain Joe Sakic retired; and co-scoring leader Ryan Smyth was dispatched to Los Angeles.

So much for expectations.

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Wang, Lighthouse Still On

Charles Wang has not made up his mind yet - as many expected would be the case after Nassau County abused the October 3 deadline he set for the Lighthouse Project.

He released a statement yesterday that explained his current situation with the project. The statement came as a result from an article that appeared in the less than glamorous Long Island Press about Wang's plan to abandon the project altogether.

“Yesterday’s report on the Lighthouse Project which appeared in the Long Island Press is untrue. There are no plans to abandon this project which is so vital to the future of Nassau County and Long Island as a whole," he said. "As far as the status of the Lighthouse project, we have submitted to The Town of Hempstead and Supervisor Kate Murray all the studies and required documents. A lease has been negotiated. Supervisor Murray and the Town Board need to make a decision on the zoning.

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Keenan Debuts on Rangers Radio

As you can well expect I am fired up to host the brand-new weekly podcast talk program, Rangers Radio, over at NewYorkRangers.com.

While I love serving as the beat writer for the team's official site, broadcasting is still very much in my bones. So the chance to chat Rangers hockey with my co-host Steven Gelbs, while also interviewing current and former members of the organization, and answering the fans e-mail questions, is going to be a lot of fun, plain and simple.

And we have a very special guest for the first show, former Rangers (and Flyers...and Blues...and Panthers...and Bruins...and Flames...and, well you get the idea) head coach Mike Keenan. Expect Keenan to look back at the magical 1993-94 season (it's already been 15 years...incredible!), while also analyzing the current state of the Rangers in his new role as guest hockey analyst for The MSG Network.

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Laraque in Hot Water over Ad

Georges Laraque usually gets into trouble on the ice as an enforcer with the Montreal Canadiens. The 6-f0ot-3, 253-pound right wing began his 12th NHL season this year with 52 goals and 1,098 penalty minutes in 667 career games.

Now, the 33-year-old is in hot water with the league and women's groups for appearing in a commercial for an alcohol drink that shows him playing street hockey with several scantily-clad women.

The commercial has no dialogue and can be viewed at 33mag.com.

According to Article 25.1 of the league's collective bargaining agreement: "No player shall be involved in any endorsement or sponsorship of alcoholic beverages (excluding malt-based beverages such as beer) and/or tobacco products."

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Ugly Start for Maple Leafs

Are the Toronto Maple Leafs really this bad?!

I mean after Brian Burke's summer of cleaning house, this is what the Maple Leafs are? A team that can't keep the puck out of its own net, is horrid down-low in its own end, has trouble finishing at the other end, and compounds one dumb penalty after another by being a putrid 57.9% on the penalty kill so far this season?

Yikes!

Well at least they can fight (witness Colton Orr tangling with Donald Brashear, above). And to their credit, the Maple Leafs did battle the Rangers for a bit last night before succumbing under the weight of their own ineptitude to the tune of a 7-2 final at Madison Square Garden.

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The Importance of No. 2 Goalie

Taking in yesterday's Rangers-Ducks contest from the press box at The Garden I got to thinking about the importance of back-up goaltenders as I watched New York's Steve Valiquette get the better of Anaheim's J.S. Giguere in a 3-0 Rangers victory.

Interestingly, Valiquette and Giguere are back-ups in distinctly different positions for their respective teams.

On Broadway, Henrik Lundqvist is the King. There is no disputing that Lundqvist is the Rangers' No. 1 goaltender and that Valiquette is No. 2. Yesterday's start was Valiquette's first of the season, and only his 23rd in the past three seasons. Even with John Tortorella's plan to spell Lundqvist more frequently than in the past, it would be hard to imagine the 32 year-old Valiquette starting more than 15 games this year.

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No Rocking Chair for Chelios

Gordie Howe did it, so why not Chris Chelios?

Chelios, age 47, is hoping to continue his playing career with the hometown Chicago Wolves in the American Hockey League, possibly with the intention of eventually returning to the NHL.

Howe -- Mr. Hockey -- was 51 when he scored 15 goals in 80 games for the NHL's Hartford Whalers in 1979-80, so anything is possible.

To say that Chelios is a workhorse in the gym would be quite the understatement. He's still a rock solid 6-foot, 190 pounds and probably would embarrass plenty of players half his age when it comes to workouts.

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Hats Off to Pittsburgh

The latest edition of The Sporting News landed in my mailbox yesterday, and the cover had a picture of Sidney Crosby and Ben Rothlisberger, along with a banner proclaiming Pittsburgh as the best sports city.

And I thought that was kind of cool.

Now, I am big city all the way. Grew up in New York. Have worked in New York, or its environs, my whole career. Currently live in a suburb of Manhattan.

But Pittsburgh has always been one of my favorite stops on the NHL tours I have taken as a broadcaster and reporter. And the city---and its people---deserve to be recognized.

As do the teams of Pittsburgh. The disastrous Pirates aside, Pittsburgh has the reigning Stanley Cup and Super Bowl champions, with the Penguins having reached the Cup Finals two years straight, and the Steelers having won the Lombardi Trophy two of the past four years. Pretty impressive stuff.

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It's Only Fantasy, Not Reality

Let's get one thing straight, right from the get-go. I play fantasy hockey, but I also have a real life, OK? I'm not sitting in my basement with bloodshot eyes staring for hours upon hours at a computer screen to assess every last statistic out there in order to outwit the other team owners in my league.

That said, I don't like to be embarrassed either. I mean, I do work in hockey, and have been a writer and broadcaster in the National Hockey League for 20 years. So that means I am supposed to come to the table with a semblance of knowledge.

Taking part in a fantasy hockey league is all about the fun, so I am walking a fine line here. It is fun, as long as I don't embarrass myself.

(Continued to Jim Cerny's Rink Rap)

Loose Lips Cost Leafs a Fine

Score one for the Vancouver Canucks ... well, sort of.

The Toronto Maple Leafs were fined an undisclosed amount today by the NHL because, league deputy commmissioner Bill Daly said, coach Ron Wilson violated a league by-law "relating to inappropriate public comments by speaking generally to his club's potential interest in negotiating with Daniel and Henrik Sedin" before the Canucks forwards had officially become free agents.

The Sedins eventually re-signed with the Canucks, getting five-year contracts worth $6.1 million a season.

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Too Early to Panic in Vancouver

Hey, what's the deal with the Vancouver Canucks? Picked by many -- but not me, I like Calgary -- to finish first in the Northwest Division, the Canucks have lost their first three games and haven't looked very good while doing it.

The biggest problem: subpar work by star goalie Roberto Luongo, who was yanked in Monday's home opener against Columbus after allowing goals on three consecutive shots to begin the second period.

Luongo actually played OK in Saturday's 3-0 loss in Denver, but he was medicore at best in Vancouver's season-opening defeat in Calgary and awful against the Blue Jackets.

Luongo is the Canucks' best player -- at least, he should be -- and he's just too talented to keep playing the way he has. Vancouver has outshot the opposition by a wide margin in each of the first three games, yet has nothing to show for it.

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Isles Kids Start Off All Right

John Tavares (photo left) did not disappoint in his NHL debut on Saturday night. The first overall pick in this past NHL Draft---and annointed savior of the Islanders franchise---notched a pair of points, including his first NHL goal, against Sidney Crosby and the defending Stanley Cup champion Penguins at the Nassau Coliseum.

If you haven't yet seen Tavares' goal, check it out here. He displays a quick set of hands, turning a broken play into a big goal. True goal scorers---whether they have played ten years in the NHL or ten minutes---instinctively know where to position themselves to get the prime scoring opportunities.

Rangers coach John Tortorella says that, "the puck just follows these kinds of players...it finds them all of the time."

John Tavares is that kind of player. Right spot, natural instinct, great hands.

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