Right before our very eyes we are seeing why Henrik Lundqvist is one of the highest paid goalies in the NHL. In game two he took the Rangers on his back as the Blueshirts beat the Devils 2-1.

Not only did the Devils lose game two, they lost home ice advantage the rest of the way and, in Zach Parise’s case, lost some teeth too.

Lundqvist stopped 26 of 27 shots to beat the Devils for the ninth time all season. He has allowed just 11 goals over that span. He certainly came through for the Rangers including stopping multiple good chances in the first period with the Devils swarming the net.

He did allow one goal during the third period to John Madden, but it was too little too late for the Devils who were outscored in the third period yet again.

Before Madden’s goal Jaromir Jagr broke out for the Blueshirts with the game tied at zero in the third period. Jagr found an open hole after Colin White bumped Martin Brodeur and briefly knocked him off balance. They pushed the lead to 2-0 just 23 seconds later when Sean Avery added another one.

The Rangers penalty killers played an important roll in the game. New Jersey’s team went 0-5 on the power play and often were unable to even register a shot with a man advantage. This is where Chris Drury reigned supreme. He dominated on faceoffs and seemingly stripped the puck from any Devil at any time.

This was a hard fought game. During the second period both teams, possibly getting frustrated because neither could capitalize offensively, got very physical. Brandon Dubinsky, Brandon Shanahan, Scott Gomez, and Sean Avery all took penalties as the two teams scrapped. Nothing became a full blown fight but that didn’t stop Dainius Zubrus, Colin White, Jamie Langenbrunner, and David Clarkson from trying. The game was often stopped at this point as referees tied to figure out who to dole penalty minutes out to.

The frustration never stopped for the Devils either because of their inability to score on Lundqvist, their disgust with Avery, or all the late calls going the Rangers’ way. In the third period after Langenbrunner received a phantom hooking call on Shanahan, Blair Betts got away with an obvious holding/hooking call. The play caused Jersey’s coach Brent Sutter to throw a stick out onto the ice.

Two up and back to the Garden.