NY Rangers (19-10-2) at New Jersey (15-8-2), 7:00 pm EST
NEWARK, New Jersey (Ticker) -- The New Jersey Devils have not
had much success against their cross-tunnel rivals. With the
way Scott Clemmensen is playing, their fortunes could change.
Clemmensen and the surging Devils look to extend their winning
streak to four games when they host the New York Rangers on
Friday.
The Devils have defeated the Rangers only once in their last 10
regular-season meetings and are 0-2 against them this season,
being outscored, 9-3.
"The significance is the obvious," Devils captain Jamie
Langenbrunner told the Bergen Record. "We haven't beaten them in
a long time and it's another divisional game we need to get
points in. They're obviously better. They've had our number
for a while now and it's important for us to stop that."
Devils coach Brent Sutter would not say after Wednesday's 4-1
win over the Pittsburgh Penguins whether Kevin Weekes or
Clemmensen would start this game. It is hard to argue against
Clemmensen, who has allowed only four goals in his last three
games, all wins.
New Jersey has won seven of its last eight games and improved to
8-6-0 without injured netminder Martin Brodeur after starting
1-5-0 without the four-time Vezina Trophy winner.
The Rangers snapped a two-game losing skid with a 3-2 overtime
win over the Atlanta Thrashers on Wednesday. Backup goaltender
Steve Valiquette stopped 27 shots for his third victory of the
season, but Henrik Lundqvist is expected to start against New
Jersey.
Lundqvist is 16-8-2 with a 2.36 goals-against average.
New York has allowed two goals or less in 20 of its 31 games.
However, its power-play unit has struggled immensely over the
last nine games, going 3-for-31 in that span.