Whew! We just barely get ourselves settled in front of the TV in time for the start of tonight’s Gomez-a-rama, and as Steve, Doc and Chico discuss how much Devils fans dislike Gomer now for his slag-facedness (uh, no, they don’t use that term, but they infer it), Pookie says happily, “Oh! Maybe the Rangers fans will boo him tonight!” Here’s hoping.
The pregame discussion then turns from Gomer (Chico very dryly says that while expectations were high for Gomer in Jersey, they’re now “a million times higher”) to Pando and Brylin, and Doc slyly editorializes in his segue that there are some players on the Devils “who have had opportunities to leave… but chose to remain.” Chico then piles on by telling us how there are some players (*cough, cough*) who underachieve, but Pandolfo and Brylin have never been accused of doing that. Huh. Who are they backhandedly referring to right here? (And seriously, Doc and Chico – tell us how you really feel.)
Dano doesn’t give us a ton of faith in Marty when he informs us he watched skatearound, and Marty looked “mentally prepared.” That’s fine, Dano, but did he seem physically prepared?
FIRST PERIOD
19:03 Doc and Chico chit-chat a bit about how the Rangers haven’t been scoring and chortling about whether they’ll be able to break their shutout streak (which, come on – the Devils are giving up about 18 goals a game), and no sooner are those words spoken than Rachunek tosses a pass up to Oduya and Greene who are dawdling in a too-many-men kind of change, Shanahan pounces on the puck, and Marty makes no effort to stop Nigel Dawes. 1-0 Rangers, but considering we expected the Rangers to score within 20 seconds of the start of the game, it’s better than we thought it would be by now.
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