The Devils secured a huge win against the Rangers in New York at Madison Square Garden on Monday, December 2nd. They came out strong, taking a 4-0 lead until Chris Kreider scored the one and only goal for the Rangers to avoid getting shutout by the Devils and Jacob Markstrom. Jack Hughes scored twice, and Jesper Bratt recorded four points (one goal, three assists) to help the Devils collect the two points. Both Dawson Mercer and Dougie Hamilton had also scored for the Devils. This was an unfortunate loss for New York as they just previously snapped their five-game losing streak when they defeated the Montreal Canadiens 4-3 on Saturday, November 30th. On Friday, the Devils head home to Prudential Center to host the Seattle Kraken, and the Rangers host the Pittsburgh Penguins next.
New Jersey Devils Lineup:
Palat – Hughes – Bratt
Meier – Hischier – Noesen
Cotter – Haula – Mercer
Hardman – Dowling – Legare
Dillon – Hamilton
Siegenthaler – Kovacevic
Hughes – Pesce
Markstrom
Allen
New York Rangers Lineup:
Panarin – Chytil – Lafreniere
Cuylle – Trocheck – Kakko
Kreider – Zibanejad – Smith
Edstrom – Carrick – Brodzinski
Lindgren – Fox
Miller – Schneider
Jones – Trouba
Shesterkin
Quick
Opening the scoring to give New Jersey an early 1-0 lead at 18:33 of the first period – Jesper Bratt scored his 12th goal of the season when he took a pass from Ondrej Palat and carried the puck up the ice with Jack Hughes across from him, keeping the puck on a 2-on-1, and scored five-hole on Igor Shesterkin. Dawson Mercer scored to make it 2-0 with a far-side shot at the right face-off circle after he got the puck from Luke Hughes, sent it back to him from the left corner, and Hughes fired it, it popped out and Mercer took it, sending it past Shesterkin.
Dougie Hamilton extended New Jersey’s lead to 3-0 with a power-play goal on a 5-on-3 with 10:56 on the clock in the middle frame. This had been his fifth goal of the season, his second in the past five games. Jack Hughes had the puck, passed it to Jesper Bratt, who sent it back to him, and then Hughes passed it to Hamilton with two seconds left on the 5-on-3, and fired a one-timer past Igor Shesterkin from the left circle. With 7:22 remaining in the second, Jack Hughes struck his 10th goal of the season to give the Devils a 4-0 lead when Luke Hughes fired it and it didn’t make it in, so Jack spun a shot off the rebound of Luke’s shot from the left point. Scoring the lone goal for the Rangers, Chris Kreider found the back of the net with a goal on the power play at 6:31. This had been Kreider’s 10th goal of the season. Hughes struck again for his second of the night for the 5-1 final on the 4-on-3 power play with 1:04 left in the second period.
Jack Hughes on Markstrom, PK, blocking shots, the Rangers, his thoughts on their third period, improving, his brother, and their defensemen overall: “Marky was our best player tonight, and PK did a really good job, a lot of shot blocks. I know they gave up one, but a lot of shot blocks by our whole team. A really good effort in that sense, but, you know, Marky was our best player and really held us in there – They cleaned us up last year, so I think that was good for us to get off on the right foot for this year. That was a good win for us. …Our third wasn’t very good, honestly. We were just hemmed in, and that’s not how we wanted to play. We were just on our heels the whole time… It’s 5-1, they’re trying to get back in the game, and we’re just trying to hold the fort down. We’d like to play in their zone more, but, you know, whatever, we closed it out,” – “We’re a much better team than we’ve had here for a while. We’re only in December, December 2nd, right? So, we’re going to keep building and keep getting better and better. …Luke’s been playing really good hockey for us recently. Obviously, I like seeing it when he’s playing really good, you know, that really drives our team. The 6 of them have been playing really good hockey as of late, you know, the back end is what drives our group.”
Notes:
– Jacob Markstrom made a total of 38 saves for New Jersey, and Igor Shesterkin made a total of 23 saves for New York.
– Jack Hughes and Jesper Bratt combined for seven points. …Hughes and Bratt both have recorded points in three consecutive games; Jack has eight points (three goals, five assists), and Jesper has seven points (two goals, five assists).
– This was Jesper Bratt’s 499th NHL career game… Dougie Hamilton recorded a goal and an assist, and Luke Hughes picked up a pair of assists.
– The Devils had a total of 27 blocked shots, which included 10 on the penalty kill.
– The Rangers have lost six of seven games, all of which have been in regulation.
– This is the first time that the Devils have beaten the Rangers by 4 or more goals since 10-19-13… the first at Madison Square Garden since 12-17-06.
– Nathan Legare made his NHL debut, skating 11:42, finishing with two shots on goal, and six hits. …He had been recalled from the Utica Comets of the AHL prior to the game on Monday. …Legare grew up with Alexis Lafreniere.
– Also making his season and Devils debut – Mike Hardman played 8:24 after being recalled from the Utica Comets with Legare.
– With his power-play goal, which marks the 114th goal on the power-play in his career – Chris Kreider is now two short of Camille Henry’s franchise record of 116.
– The Rangers played without Brett Berard due to sustaining an upper-body injury. This was the first time in five games since he had been recalled from the Hartford Wolfpack of the AHL on the 24th of November.
