As the NHL welcomes the 2025-2026 hockey season, the New Jersey Devils hosted the New York Rangers at the Prudential Center on September 21 to kick off the preseason. The Devils fell short and lost to the Rangers 5-3.
With the New Jersey Devils training camp wrapping up on Saturday, the Devils were prepared to host the New York Rangers the next day–welcoming many friendly faces back to Prudential Center ice. While longing for hockey, Jake Allen led the Devils out on Sunday afternoon for warmups and to play the first period. Nico Daws took Allen’s place after the first period, allowing both players to get a feel of the ice that afternoon. Paul Cotter, Cody Glass, and Kurtis MacDermid were set as the alternate captains for the Devils.
As the first period began, the starting lineup consisted of Cotter on the left wing, Glass at center, and Arseni Gritsyuk on the right wing. The defensive players consisted of Dennis Cholowski and Calen Addison, with Allen in goal. Jonathan Quick led the New York Rangers out for pregame warmups and to start the game.
Opening up the scoring period, Rangers’ Gabe Perreault took a snap shot to the back of the Devils’ net, putting the Rangers up 1-0. At 10:55 in the first period, after the Rangers’ goal, the Devils earned a power play, and Brian Halonen tied the game 1-1 with a slap shot.
While the second period commenced, this was the most intense and thrilling period of the night. With tons of action from the Devils and goals by the Rangers, the crowd was buzzing. That’s the sound of hockey being back. Just three minutes into the start of the second period, Rangers’ Dylan Roobroeck found the back of the net, giving the Rangers back an advantage.
The Devils struggled to find the Rangers’ net, and before Paul Cotter scored, Conor Sheary and Scott Morrow gave the Rangers two more goals. At 12:52, Cotter was able to score on the Rangers; the Devils trailed 4-2. Lastly, Jonny Brodzinski gave the Rangers their final goal of the afternoon, making the score 5-2.
In the third, both teams suffered from penalties as players found each other tripping, fighting, and slashing. Lots of momentum was found in the third period, even while the Devils trailed 4-2. To conclude the afternoon, Arseniy Gritsyuk of the New Jersey Devils found himself scoring the Devils’ final goal on a power play. The New York Rangers beat the New Jersey Devils 5-3 to conclude the first preseason game. The Devils had 28 shots on goal, while the Rangers had 23. The Rangers suffered with 17 minutes more of penalty minutes than the Devils, although the Devils had a significantly larger amount of hits at 45.
The next preseason game for the New Jersey Devils will be on Tuesday, September 23 against the New York Islanders at UBS Arena in Long Island.
