THE NHL / HELENE ELLIOTT : Rangers Still Rule, but the Devils Are Getting Their Due

What could have been the New Jersey Devils’ finest hour instead became a diabolically bad weekend.

Long the butt of jokes, the Devils are playing serious hockey this season. By last Thursday, they had a club-record 101 points, tying the Rangers for the overall point lead and giving them a claim to supremacy in the New York metropolitan area and the NHL. But by Saturday night, after the Devils lost to the Washington Capitals and to the Rangers--their first back-to-back defeats of the season--the Rangers had gotten the last laugh.

The Devils, 0-6 against the Rangers in an otherwise terrific season, can’t seem to overcome their chief rivals or the weight of history. Although it’s tough to get a ticket at Madison Square Garden, the Meadowlands Arena sells out only when the Devils play the Rangers--and even then, Ranger fans form a majority.

“There are certain things you can’t control and that’s one of them,” Devil General Manager Lou Lamoriello said. “You have to respect the success the Rangers are having. They got out strong early and they’re one of the original six teams. We’ve learned that when you cannot control something, you can’t let it bother you. You do only what you can do.”

What the Devils have done is build a team that’s rugged, strong defensively and balanced offensively. They can’t beat the Rangers’ 58-year tradition, but the Devils, who were born in 1974 as the Kansas City Scouts and moved to Colorado before settling in New Jersey in 1982, might still beat the Rangers to a Stanley Cup championship.

“We’re getting a lot from everyone; you really can’t single anyone out,” said Lamoriello, whose team isn’t represented among the top 25 scorers but has the NHL’s second-best goaltending, with a 2.60 goals-against average. “We don’t have any big scorers but we have the second-most goals scored in the league and we have a couple of players who can break open a game.”

The catalyst is Coach Jacques Lemaire, who preaches the virtues of defense. A Hall of Fame member and eight-time Cup winner with the Montreal Canadiens, he has transformed castoffs Bobby Carpenter, Corey Millen and Bernie Nicholls into solid two-way centers. Defenseman Scott Stevens leads the NHL with a plus-50 defensive rating, and no Devils” player has a minus rating.

“Jacques and Larry (Robinson, his assistant) have certainly made the difference, because we’re basically the same team we were last year,” Lamoriello said. “There’s a sense of responsibility, a belief in themselves that wasn’t there. . . . We’re a team that competes every night.”

The Devils’ struggle to compete at the box office led to speculation they might move, but owner John McMullen is trying to buy the Meadowlands Arena and end the club’s unfavorable lease. “We’re here to stay,” Lamoriello said.

In more ways than one.

HARRIED SINDEN

Mike Milbury’s surprise decision to quit as assistant general manager of the Bruins to become coach at Boston College left General Manager Harry Sinden in a quandary. Sinden, 61, had been delegating some of his duties to Milbury with the intention of retiring after next season. Does he now bring in a young protege for on-the-job training or does he lure a current GM to Boston this summer?

Sinden has indicated that he wants experience, sparking rumors he might hire Oiler General Manager/Coach Glen Sather, his longtime fishing buddy. Sather talked to Sinden but said he’s happy rebuilding his team and isn’t going anywhere. “Harry and I are friends, but I’ve had lots of friends offer me jobs over the years and I’m still in Edmonton,” Sather said.

Capital General Manager David Poile, also a Sinden crony, is a strong possibility even though he hasn’t won so much as a conference title in 12 years. His contract expires on June 30 and he has said his first choice is to stay in Washington, but an early playoff loss might eliminate that option. Although Mike Smith’s name has come up, the former Winnipeg Jet GM is an unlikely pick because of his affinity for European players. The Bruins don’t sign many Europeans, believing they can’t play the Bruins’ traditional grinding game.

OILING UP AGAIN

After a string of five Cups in seven years that ended in 1990, the Oilers have hit tough times. They’ve missed the playoffs two successive seasons after qualifying for 13 straight years, but Sather thinks they’ll be back in contention next season.

“We’ve been through the worst already,” said Sather who coached four of those Cup teams and was GM of all five. “It’s nice to have a great past behind you, but it’s (also) nice to re-establish something successful.”

He has a good nucleus in 19-year-old center Jason Arnott, second among rookies with 32 goals; defenseman Boris Mironov, 21; Doug Weight, 23, and promising youngsters Vladimir Vujtek, Dean McAmmond and Kirk Maltby. He also has two early first-round draft choices--his own and a pick he got from the Jets, with Swedish standout Mats Lindgren, for the overrated Dave Manson.

The key is re-signing goalie Bill Ranford, who has been superb this season under constant siege. Ranford is earning $1.225 million and will probably ask for $3 million. “I just traded Manson (who was paid $1.1 million) so I ought to be able to afford Bill,” Sather said. “You can’t break the bank for anybody, but if Bill’s reasonable, I’m sure we can make a deal with him.”

FADING AT THE FINISH

Who is less deserving of winning the Central Division, the Red Wings, who are 4-5-3 in the last month, or the Maple Leafs, who are 5-8-1? Detroit can’t stop goals--Bob Essensa is 2-5-2 since being acquired from Winnipeg--and Toronto can’t score many. The Maple Leafs’ power play, once the NHL’s best, has fallen to 15th overall. “Special teams are losing games for us,” Dave Andreychuk said. “Our power play is struggling and we’ve got to get that going. We’ve got to get our act together going into the playoffs.”

Coach Pat Burns said: “We can’t beat anybody.”

Neither can Montreal, which is 1-4-3 since March 19 and has seen Patrick Roy allow 32 goals in his last eight starts. The Northeast remains a four-way scramble among the Canadiens, Bruins, Pittsburgh Penguins and Buffalo Sabres.

The only team in any division finishing impressively is San Jose, which has won a club-record six straight games and is 6-0-2 since mid-March.

SLAPSHOTS

Milbury said he “left a million dollars on the table” to take a $150,000 annual salary from BC for five years. However, he’s getting college tuition for his four children and should come out almost even financially with far less stress. . . . Washington Coach Jim Schoenfeld has benched Mike Ridley the last two games. Ridley, a quietly steady center, has averaged 29 goals for nine seasons and is the Capitals’ second-leading scorer. . . . The Calgary Flames’ Gary Roberts has 15 goals in his last 14 games. . . . Devil defenseman Ken Danyeko’s consecutive games-played streak ended Friday at 388 because of a separated left shoulder. It was the NHL’s longest active streak. . . . Sather will be Canada’s general manager in the World Championships. His coaches will be George Kingston, formerly of San Jose, and Tom Renney, who coached Canada’s Olympic team to a silver medal at Lillehammer, Norway, in February. . . . The Stanley Cup finals could end on June 14, the latest ever.