The visiting Blueshirts will be aiming for their ninth straight victory and -- after Sunday's classic -- second consecutive W this week in the Garden State.
Don't kid yourself; if you think New York Rangers-New York Islanders is a keen rivalry, believe The Maven when I tell you that The Battle Of The Hudson -- which resumes tonight at The Rock -- is equally intense.
As for this evening, the visiting Blueshirts will be aiming for their ninth straight victory and -- after Sunday's classic -- second consecutive W this week in the Garden State.
On the other side, Lindy Ruff's Devils are in a desperate mode otherwise defined as if-we-don't-make-the-playoffs-it'll-be-awfully-humbling.
Pre-season forecasts had New Jersey finishing second in the Met Division, one notch ahead of the Blueshirts who are running away with a likely first place finish.
While the Rangers -- with a respite here and there -- have breezed along with the breeze, the Devils have been braked in one unpleasant form or another from the get-go last October.
Injuries to top defenseman Dougie Hamilton and top scorer Jack Hughes have been hard to overcome not to mention the chronic issues in the crease.
Before the season even began Devils GM Tom Fitzgerald knew that goaltending would be his club's biggest question mark.
It's been that, and even more so since starter Vitek Vanecek has struggled throughout the season and backup Akira Schmid has not been much of a help either. Right now Ruff -- a Ranger from 1988-89 -1990-91 is gambling on Nico Daws from Munich, Germany.
It's a gamble since Daws' 13-game record this season with New Jersey is a blushing 6-7-0 along with 3.18 and .903. Yet some goalkeeper-watchers insist that he's superior to both Vanecek and Schmid. (Then again, that's not much to brag about either.)
Should Daws get hurt, or yanked, Ruff would have to go with Isaac Poulter who wasn't even on the team's depth chart in October. After 24 games in AHL Utica Poulter -- he's from Winnipeg -- is 14-7-1 with a .908 save percentage in the minors and 0 NHL experience.
But the Devils are super-motivated and believe they can close the gap and make the playoffs.
Hotshot Jack Hughes is back from an injury and gifted kid brother Luke will be on the Devs' blue line; plus they'll be led by the very good captain Nico Hischier.
Really, the only Rangers question is whether coach Peter Laviolette will start the suddenly-hot Igor Shesterkin or Jonathan Quick who -- over the season -- has been consistently better than Crown Prince Igor of Moscow.
Quite frankly, it's a decision that The Royal Ruff wish he had to make!