I must give a shout out to the last-place Kings, who have now defeated the inconsistent Rangers and NHL point’s leader Detroit Red Wings their past two games. Detroit was riding an 8-game winning streak with a chance to match the franchise record. But, the Kings came back from a two-goal deficit, earning a 5-3 effort with 4 goals in a 14-minute third period stretch. Many people have been comparing the Red Wings success this season to that of the New England Patriots, who blew it in the game that mattered most. The Red Wings are on pace for 60 wins. They already have 86 points in 56 games, 15 more than the closest team (Dallas). But, if the parallels are drawn between the two organizations, that means the Devils (New Jersey’s representative) will upset the Wings in the 2008 Stanley Cup Finals. I wouldn’t mind.

I mean the New York Giants only had to win three games to make it to the Super Bowl, whereas the Devils would have to go through three rounds of physical and mental hockey.

Ottawa, Montreal and the Rangers are three teams that scare me, a loyal Devils supporter since birth. I am not belittling the Giants success, which earned them a Super Bowl for the first time since 1990. I am just saying that I feel it is a lot easier to win one game, even it's on the road, than to win an entire series three separate times.

Everyone is predicting the Red Wings to make it past the first round of the playoffs, but people doubt their ability to win an important series to the Ducks, Dallas or San Jose. Do not get me wrong though, as Niklas Lidstrom is having an MVP-caliber season. He is third on the team in scoring, fifth in the league in assists. Lidstrom also leads the league with a whopping +46. Then again, five Red Wings skaters place in the top six in plus minus, while two offensemen are points leaders (Zetterberg, Datsyuk). Finally, if the Red Wings lose in the playoffs or fail in the Stanley Cup Finals, they might go down in history as a major collapse (i.e. NY Mets last September, Patriots and their 18-0 record entering the Super Bowl).

My predictions… Red Wings lose in the playoffs. I respect their incredible drive but come playoff time, are teams scared of Chris Osgood and a 42-year-old Dominik Hasek. They are having great years, but who starts in game one of the Finals? Do you ride Osgood’s hot hand or Hasek’s experience? Luckily, I do not have to answer these questions. And, by the way, the media is definitely rooting for a Rangers-Red Wings which goes the distance. Just as they wanted the Packers to face the Patriots this past Sunday, they want a high ratings event. Which means that the Devils would defeat the Rangers in the Garden, ending those hopes.

In my opinion, Alexander “Alex” Ovechkin should own the Hart Trophy at the conclusion of the regular season. This year, he has certainly changed the game of hockey from a low-scoring 2-1 squeaker to a high-flying, very entertaining affair. Whether Ovechkin deals with home ice (21 goals) or the road (25 goals), he has managed to uproot the definition of scoring. He has ripped the definition out of the ground and thrown it through the window. He leads the league in goals scored with 46, including two 4-goal performances. From the bunker to first place, Vech has been there and done that the entire season. The Capitals, who looked like a rotten banana earlier in the season, have rapidly rebounded from a 6-14-1 start under their new head coach Bruce Boudreau.

Back to Ovechkin. He’s on pace for 69 goals (rounded up), the highest amount since Mario Lemieux’s skating days when the goal scoring was closer to 6 or 7 than it is to 4 or 3 on most nights.

Meanwhile, Mario’s former squad, the Penguins hosted the Islanders in divisional showdown. I thought the Islanders tied the game with 1.7 seconds left in regulation, but their goal was waved off by the officials. With the loss, the Islanders have now lost 6 straight and have not seen a win since Jan. 22. They are headed to the basement for another off season on the golf courts and standard “cruise with wife” scenarios.

On Friday night, the Devils host Anaheim, a team on an eight-game road trip. The Ducks defeated the Rangers 4-1 on Thursday. I am hoping the Ducks are exhausted from using that energy, which is highly unlikely. They swept the pants off Rangers fans, shut down their power play (0-4) while taking advantage (1-2) of their own power play opportunities. The funny thing is the Rangers outshot the Ducks 33-19, reminding me of a Devils-Flyers game this season. The Devils took more than twice as many shots as the Flyers (28-18), yet they still lost 4-0. Weird.

Will Niedermayer receive a standing ovation from the Devils crowd, which has seen many superstars depart the organization? Will he receive a two-minute applause from the audience like Mike Piazza did when he returned to Shea Stadium as a member of the San Diego Padres? (P.S. We even cheered when Piazza hit a homerun, it was really odd.)

Probably not 120 seconds, but I will be among those cheering for Niedermayer. He brought so much to the table, including 3 Stanley Cup Trophies while a skater for New Jersey. Final thoughts… well, it’s impossible to know which Devils team is staying focused. Lately, Patrik Elias and the defensemen have stepped up, yet they fell to Buffalo in the shootout.

The Devils were not expected to finish with a solid chance at upsetting Ottawa or Montreal Despite losing Nieds, Stevens and Gomez this past off season, they have managed just that. New Jersey needs to find a way to defeat the Rangers and Islanders, who have 10 wins and zero losses against the Devils this season.

Coming into the game, the Devils are 16-10-0 at home. That record is slightly deceiving. In late October into early November, they went 3-2-0. The Devils have lost at home to Phoenix, Florida, Montreal for the first time since the ice age. I really like the Ducks style of play despite their difficult schedule. But, I cannot see them advancing far in the playoffs, because they traded second-leading playoff scorer Andy McDonald from potentially repeating. McDonald scored 10 goals in last year’s playoffs but then struggled early on this season. The Ducks went hunting and found STL Blues Doug Weight for trade.

The Devils are struggling to sustain confidence and agility throughout the entire game. Two periods of play aint gonna do the trick in 2008. But, you can’t teach an old dog new habits. Nah, not true. Well, the Suns hope that Shaq will not be a bust. What do you expect from an injury-plagued yet very successful playing career.

I should also note that Devils fans might not see Dion Phaneuf for the next six years. He resigned with Calgary for a boatload of money. I would have traded first round draft picks, whatever it took to bring Phanuef to New Jersey. Calgary’s management is run by a Sutter, so there are no surprises that he resigned his future stars, including Phanuef, goalie Miikka Kiprusoff and Jarome Iginla among others. Other organizations have also locked up their superstars, including Penguins’ Sidney Crosby, Capitals’ Ovechkin, Flyers’ Mike Richards and the Islanders Rick DiPietro. I am not in favor of these long term contracts even if it means that players compete in their draft city for years to come. I would prefer a mix, like the NFL and NHL combined. Anyway, nobody cares about my opinion, so enjoy the new and improved NHL.

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