In the latest renewal of the Hudson River Rivalry, the New Jersey Devils took down the New York Rangers 6-3 on Wednesday night at Madison Square Garden. In their second meeting of the season, New Jersey outshot New York 39-19 in a dominant offensive performance.
“It was a well played game,” Devils captain Nico Hischier said, “I think we executed in our gameplan that we had and I think at the end it was a deserved win.”
The Rangers were practically non-existent for nearly the entirety of the first period. With only two shots on net, they generated little to no offense which was the complete opposite of the Devils who had 16 of their own.
Somehow, some way, New York was first to break the score. Their second shot of the game came over 15 minutes into the period and it was Vladislav Gavrikov with a snipe from the blue line.
It didn’t take long at all for the Devils to tie things back up. Thanks to a Gabe Perreault holding call, they’d score less than a minute later on a power play goal from Hischier. The Devils captain swatted it past Jonathan Quick after Jack Hughes threw it at the net from the left point.
New Jersey took the lead three minutes later on a breakaway snipe from Arseny Gritsyuk. Despite it being their second goal of the game it should’ve been their tenth but they were facing a brick wall in Quick.
The Rangers cleaned things up very quickly in the second when a wrist shot from Mika Zibanejad went through Jakob Markstrom’s glove to tie it. Assisted by Perreault, the Rangers now had two goals on three shots.
When it came to scoring, the power play was the Devils’ best friend. They scored their second man-advantaged goal when Connor Brown hit a one-timer in front of the net. With Jack Hughes setting him up for the assist, the Devils were back in front 3-2.
The Jersey side of the Hudson extended their lead to two early in the third period when Timo Meier scored on a rebound. Paul Cotter was credited for the assist after he stole the puck from the Rangers defender and brought it to the net causing Quick to lose his balance and end up on the ground with no real chance to make a save.
New York eventually fired back when Conor Sheary picked up a loose puck in front of the net and ripped it past Markstrom. With time running out slowly but surely, the Rangers showed they were still hanging on.
A chance to tie it was cut short when the Devils scored their fifth of the game to go back up two on a Jack Hughes snap shot from the left side after hitting the post seconds prior. Getting his second of a three point night, It was his 20th career goal against the Rangers.
Fuel was added to the fire with under four minutes to go when Jesper Bratt hit a wrister on a fast break over Quick’s shoulder. It was a milestone goal for Bratt as it was his 500th NHL point.
New Jersey held on to their lead the rest of the way to take a 6-3 victory. This marked their third win in a row dating back to last season.
“I think they would probably answer yes,” Head coach Sheldon Keefe said postgame when I asked if the players get any extra energy or motivation when the Rangers come up on the schedule. “We just spoke the length about Jack [Hughes] I mean he’s certainly won in my time here. We’ve done quite well in my time here against the Rangers and Jack’s been a catalyst each time so I think that helps when your top players really feeling it and gets up for these games and you seem to fall in place from there.”
Nobody would disagree with you if you said tonight’s offensive performance from the Rangers was far from stellar. Only having 11 shots on net through the first two periods, it seems like it was a challenge to generate anything within the zone.
“We weren’t good enough, I don’t think we were good enough all night long,” Head coach Mike Sullivan said postgame. “We pushed in the third, but it’s hard to win games when you only play a period.”
For the Devils to try and sneak their way into the playoffs, it will be a very steep uphill battle. While the standings don’t give any justice, they’re not closing the door on this season just yet.
“It’s not over till its over,” Jack Hughes said. “We have a lot of hockey left to play and if we go on a run you never know what’s going to happen. So all we can do is control what we can control, we can try and win as many hockey games as we can, play our best.”
Both teams will hit the road in different directions to go play their next game. While the Rangers are headed to Columbus to play the Blue Jackets on Thursday, the Devils are set to face the Capitals in Washington DC on Friday.
