It was a close game between the Devils and New York Rangers at the Madison Square Garden on Wednesday, April 3rd. This marked New Jersey’s third straight loss after a two-game win streak that had been put to an end when they fell to the Buffalo Sabres 5-2 on Friday, March 29th. This was a great comeback win for the Rangers after they lost to the Pittsburgh Penguins before they met with the Devils. Chris Kreider broke the 3-3 tie in the third period to secure a 4-3 victory in what started as a hectic game with a line brawl off the opening face-off.
Devils lineup against the Rangers:
Meier – Hischier – Bratt
Hughes – Haula – Holtz
Palat – Nosek – Mercer
MacDermid – Tierney – Lazar
Hughes – Smith
Bahl – Marino
Siegenthaler – Nemec
Kahkonen
Allen
Rangers lineup against the Devils:
Kreider – Zibanejad – Roslovic
Panarin – Trocheck – Lafreniere
Cuylle – Wennberg – Kakko
Vesey – Goodrow – Rempe
Lindgren – Fox
Miller – Trouba
Gustafsson – Schneider
Shesterkin
Quick
The first period began with a line brawl off the opening face-off that ended in all 10 players receiving fighting majors and eight of them had gotten game misconducts, which had left both the Devils and Rangers with 14 skaters each.
The following skaters from both teams received game misconducts: Jacob Trouba, K’Andre Miller, Barclay Goodrow, Matt Rempe, Kurtis MacDermid, Chris Tierney, Kevin Bahl, and John Marino. Two other players who fought but were able to continue playing in the game were Jimmy Vesey and Curtis Lazar.
Artemi Panarin opened the scoring at 10:38 of the first period to put the Rangers in front for a 1-0 lead. At the left face-off circle, he sent a one-timer past Kaapo Kahkonen for his 45th goal of the season off a pass from Alexis Lafreniere. The goal had been challenged for offside, however, it was determined to be a good goal. Lafreniere made it a 2-0 lead for New York with 1:57 remaining in the opening 20.
Early into the middle frame at 17:49, Ondrej Palat scored his 10th goal of the season to cut it to 2-1 off a one-timer from the right circle. Brendan Smith tied it 2-2 at 10:07 from the slot with a one-timer off an assist from Jesper Bratt… Bratt went on to set up Nico Hischier soon after, who had given New Jersey their first lead of the game. Hischier put a one-timer past Igor Shesterkin from below the right circle.
Kaapo Kakko recorded his 13th goal of the season to tie it back up 3-3 at 14:29 of the third. He had taken the puck down and protected it from Luke Hughes, whose stick broke on an attempted shot, sending a shot in from the left circle. The door opened for Chris Kreider for his cherry on top after Brendan Smith went to the box for hooking… Kreider went for the 4-3 final with a net deflection of a shot by Adam Fox after the puck had been carried into the zone and dropped for him by Artemi Panarin.
Kurtis MacDermid on the fight with Matt Rempe, the lineup backing up, and respect for Rempe: “Yeah – I mean, who knows, might not want to engage in certain situations but we went tonight and it’s over with now… I didn’t see that coming either, but it’s great to see, just the team bonding that way, having each other’s backs out there,” – “I’m always going to have a lot of respect for him. He’s a young kid just trying to do his thing… He’s going to learn and he’s a big, tough, strong kid. Always respect someone who’s doing what they can to stay in this league, and he’s had a good showing so far.”
Notes:
– Jesper Bratt recorded two assists, and Kaapo Kahkonen made a total of 37 saves for New Jersey.
– The Devils remain six points behind the Washington Capitals for the second wild card to get into the Stanley Cup Playoffs with six games remaining.
– Artemi Panarin and Alexis Lafreniere each recorded a goal and an assist. Igor Shesterkin made a total of 17 saves for New York.
Panarin has a seven-game point streak with 16 points recorded (seven goals, nine assists).
– The New York Rangers extended their lead in the Metropolitan Division to five points over the Carolina Hurricanes. They also lead the Presidents’ Trophy race by three points over both the Dallas Stars and Boston Bruins with 106 points and six games left.
– Matt Rempe has a total of 5:03 minutes of ice time and 47 penalty minutes against the Devils this season.
– The New York Rangers have gone 4-0-0 against the Devils this season, this being the third time they’ve swept the season series against them (1993-94, 2014-15).
– Kaapo Kakko has a five-game point streak, tying his career-high (three goals, two assists)
– Braden Schneider has played in his 200th NHL career game.
** I just thought I’d put this out there… This is my 87th article I’ve written since I started writing here, and it’s cool because that’s the number of my favorite player (Sidney Crosby, obviously) **
