This season the New Jersey Devils have used the word “Relentless” as part of the organization’s marketing plan, but on Monday night at Madison Square Garden it was the Rangers who were far more relentless in their play, skating away with a 2-1 victory over their Hudson River rivals.
Monday’s victory was the third straight for the Rangers, who have now won six of their last eight games, as well. The three-game winning streak is their longest since a season-best nine-game streak that lasted until mid-November.
“We haven’t done this in a while,” J.T. Miller, who scored the game-winning goal, said of the winning streak. “We’ve been doing the back and forth stuff, but our game is coming, and tonight is a good example of playing well in a home game against a rivalry team.”
The final score actually was not representative of how much New York controlled this game. If not for the stellar play of Devils goalie Cory Schneider the Rangers could have won this contest going away.
It was the first time that the Rangers had beaten the Devils in three head-to-head meetings this season. New York is now 1-1-1 against New Jersey with one more game to play in the season series.
“I really liked the way we played,” stated head coach Alain Vigneault. “We put a lot of heat and pressure on them, and used our speed. In the offensive zone we had some good looks and good movement. Overall it was a good game for us.”
The Rangers played an extremely strong first period, tenacious on the fore check, forcing the Devils into one turnover after another, and securing a distinct territorial advantage. They outshot the Devils 17-9, out-attempted the visitors 34-16, and outhit them 16-9, yet the game remained scoreless after twenty minutes of play.
Schneider, the Devils All Star goaltender who came in having stopped 57 of 60 shots in two wins against the Rangers previously this season, was exceptionally sound positionally in that opening period making things look pretty easy despite how badly his team was being outplayed. Even in stopping a Derek Stepan breakaway at 6:51 Schneider did so in a smooth, calm manner.
New Jersey helped out its goalie by blocking 14 shots in the first, while at the other end of the ice Henrik Lundqvist had a fairly easy time of it, except for one sequence midway through the period when he made three stops in succession on Stephen Gionta and Jordin Tootoo.
“We did a lot of good things,” noted Lundqvist, who finished with 27 saves. “We played a very disciplined game with a lot of energy and we created a lot of good chances. There’s a lot to be happy about.”
The Rangers kept up their strong play in the second period, finally breaking through against Schneider at 4:47. Symbolic of the Rangers determined effort all night long, Mats Zuccarello won a puck battle with two Devils along the right wing wall before zipping a cross-ice pass to a wide-open Kevin Klein who fired the puck past a diving Schneider to put New York up 1-0.
The goal was Klein’s first in 28 games and fourth overall this season. Marc Staal also assisted along with Zuccarello, who has four helpers during the three-game win streak.
“It’s been a while,” said a smiling Klein after the game. “You know Zucc is going to find you. I tried to get lost behind the net and as soon as I saw him make that turn I set up because he makes those plays.He put it right in my wheelhouse.”
Four minutes after taking the lead the Rangers had several excellent scoring chances on the power play, but Schneider was there to thwart Chris Kreider from the doorstep and Oscar Lindberg’s one-timer from ten feet out. New York failed on all five of their power plays Monday night–making them just 2-for-49 on the power play over the past 17 games–while New Jersey was not awarded a single power play opportunity the entire evening.
The Devils displayed some second-period chippiness against a Rangers team already playing without the injured Ryan McDonagh and Rick Nash. Former Blueshirt Lee Stempniak sent Staal careening into the boards on a cross-check at 6:51; Eric Gelinas sat on top of Dominic Moore behind the Devils net a few minutes later and gave Moore a couple of unpenalized shots to the back of the neck; and Adam Henrique slashed Miller on the back of the leg at 15:20 after Miller had delivered a hard hit of his own–one of 36 hits credited to the Rangers in the game.
The Blueshirts finally found a way to add to their lead early in the third period when Miller took a drop pass from Derick Brassard and beat Schneider between the pads with a shot from between the circles at 4:37. The goal was the 17th this season for the red-hot Miller, who has scored nine times in the last ten games. The assist was Brassard’s team-leading 40th point this season, his ninth in the past five contests.
“I just know when (Brassard) has the puck I have to make myself available because he’s got some unreal vision,” explained Miller, who played more than 20 minutes on Monday. “I don’t think anything comes easy. Tonight is another example. I’m just trying to get a puck to the net and I’m really not thinking about scoring from there and it happens to go in. Obviously it’s nice, and it’s great for confidence.”
Lundqvist lost his shutout bid with 2:17 remaining in regulation when, after a Rangers turnover, Travis Zajac scored his second shorthanded goal of the season, this one off a 2-on-1 rush up ice with Henrique. However Lundqvist and his teammates were able to hold New Jersey off the board the rest of the way to finish off the Rangers 30th win of the season and 20th already on Garden ice.
“The way we are playing, it’s really paying off, and guys are playing well,” stated Lundqvist. “As a group we are doing a lot of good things. It definitely feels good, and our results have been better the last month or so.”
Next up the Rangers travel to Pittsburgh for their first meeting with the Penguins this season on Wednesday night.
Jim Cerny
BlueshirtsUnited.com
(Reprinted With Permission of the New York Rangers)
