Though there were some technicalities with the first part of our first NYHR show kicking off the New Year, it still was a very good show.

Joe McDonald, Gary Harding and yours truly were joined by Roger from upstate New York and the one and only ESPN anchor/NHL columnist extraordinaire John Buccigross called in for an extensive interview which lasted roughly 20-25 minutes.

Among topics covered was the entertaining successful Outdoor Classic along with if it could fare as well in NYC, plus plenty of NHL coverage as we go around the league taking a look at league surprises and possible Hart candidates.

To tune into future shows which usually air between 9 and 10 every Wednesday night on the East coast, please check us out:

NY Hockey Report

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Hope to hear from some of you for future shows.

Just a couple of quick hits from tonight’s games:

The Devils held on for a 3-2 home victory at The Prudential Center over the Panthers on the strength of a Brian Gionta early third period power play tally. Martin Brodeur stood tall in net making 31 saves as the first place Devs increased their Atlantic lead to three over the Rangers and Pens.

Meanwhile, the Blueshirts had their three-game win streak snapped at Alberta falling to the Flames 4-3. After falling behind by two, the Rangers cut Calgary’s lead to one three different times. But despite rookie center Brandon Dubinsky’s goal which made it 3-2 in arguably his best game drawing third star honors, an awful goal was allowed by Henrik Lundqvist off a weird play. After Martin Straka nearly broke through for a possible equalizer on Miikka Kiprusoff, the Czech tried a mistimed back pass to Michal Rozsival who wasn’t properly positioned at the right point.

A hustling Kristian Huselius wisely shot from a very sharp angle fooling Lundqvist who was thinking pass for what turned out to be the deciding marker with over three minutes left because Brendan Shanahan notched his club-leading 15th with only 14 seconds remaining.

They did get the puck deep but couldn’t get a desperation shot off as the buzzer sounded keeping the Blueshirts winless against Western opponents. This has to be a concern as they get ready for Vancouver later tonight and conclude the challenging three-game four-day Western Canada road swing back in Alberta Saturday night at Edmonton. What kind of scheduling is that?!?!?!?!?! You’d think they’d at least play the two Alberta teams back-to-back instead of traveling back and forth.

However, what does it matter? This team can’t seem to beat the West and that’s why they’re looking up at the Devils in the standings in a wacky and wild East where anything can happen as the halfway point approaches.

One other note from the Thrashers’ 5-4 overtime road win over the struggling first place Hurricanes:

The league’s leading goalscorer Ilya Kovalchuk tallied No.33 in the first period. According to Bucci, it was of the “highlight reel” variety. The Russian also assisted on three more goals by teammates including Marian Hossa’s deciding PP marker with just 32 ticks left in OT. After watching it, Kovalchuk totally kicked ass in this game!

That’s now 33 goals and 24 assists for 57 points at the halfway point for a mediocre club hanging around with 41 points in 41 games just a point out of the three-way tie for seventh (NYI, Phi, Bos).

If Kovy gets his team in, he has a great shot at league MVP.