With a modest two-game winning streak, the New York Rangers headed across the river for their first matchup of the season against the New Jersey Devils.
In the first period, things started out pretty quiet for both teams. There wasn’t a lot of offense generated, but it was the Devils who had the first big opportunity of the game.
With the Rangers facing a true five-on-three for a full two minutes, the penalty kill was able to shut it down with ease. This is a unit that has been doing well for most of the year and them being able to keep this a scoreless game was impressive.
Just before the end of the period, it was a bad mistake by J.T. Miller, who mis-hit a puck right to Evan Rodrigues, who was able to beat Dylan Garand for his second of the season. This gave the Devils a 1-0 lead, and they never looked back.
Wheels Fall Off
18 seconds into the second period, it was Luke Hughes who was able to extend the lead to 2-0 with his second of the season. It didn’t take long for things to get a little out of control for the Rangers in this one.
Nico Hischier was able to score his fourth of the year to make it a 3-0 lead, resulting in a timeout from Mike Sullivan. However, that timeout seemingly didn’t send the message that they were hoping for.
31 seconds later, it was Arseny Gritsyuk who was able to extend the lead to 4-0.
While it wasn’t all Garand’s fault that the Rangers were down 4-0, they elected to pull him for Spencer Martin after the three-goal barrage in the first five minutes of the period. Later on in the period, it was Hughes once again who was able to beat Martin this time and make it a 5-0 lead.
In the third period, the Rangers were unable to capitalize on a good offensive zone chance and it set the Devils up nicely to score on the other end. Stefan Noesen was able to score his first of the season on a nice shot that beat Martin.
If there was a silver lining in the loss for the Rangers, it was that Pavel Dorofeyev was able to find the back of the net on a power play in the third period. However, with the Rangers on the power play, it was a short-handed goal by Cody Glass that made it a 7-1 game.
Next up for the Rangers will be another road game against the Columbus Blue Jackets. New York will certinaly be looking to erase this game from their memory and they wiill have the opportunity to do so on Saturday.
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