NEW YORK RANGERS VS NEW JERSY DEVILS POST GAME RECAP 2/8

 

Relentless Rangers Win Third Straight, Beat Devils 2-1

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.
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.
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.
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.
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 four of their power plays through the first two periods--making them just 2-for-48 on the power play over the past 17 games--while New Jersey was not awarded a single power play opportunity.
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 J.T. Miller in the back of the leg at 15:20 after Miller had delivered a hard hit of his own--one of 29 hits credited to the Rangers over the first two periods of play.
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.
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.
Next up the Rangers travel to Pittsburgh for their first meeting with the Penguins this season on Wednesday night.

FINAL STATS 

Scoring Summary
1st Period
NONE
2nd Period
04:47    NYR    Kevin Klein (4) Snap shot - ASST: Mats Zuccarello (21), Marc Staal (11)     1 - 0 NYR
3rd Period
4:37    NYR    J.T. Miller (17) Wrist shot - ASST: Derick Brassard (22), Jesper Fast (13)     2 - 0 NYR
17:43    NJD    SHG - Travis Zajac (8) Wrist shot - ASST: Adam Henrique (17)     2 - 1 NYR

Penalty Summary
1st Period
02:42    NJD    Eric Gelinas  Slashing  - 2 min against  Daniel Paille
03:04    NYR    Kevin Hayes  Misconduct (10 min)  - 10 min against  Adam Larsson
10:10    NJD    Stephen Gionta  Interference  - 2 min against  Kevin Klein
2nd Period
06:51    NJD    Lee Stempniak  Cross checking  - 2 min against  Marc Staal
19:00    NJD    David Schlemko  Delaying Game-Puck over glass  - 2 min against  Derick Brassard
3rd Period
17:21    NJD    Andy Greene  Hooking  - 2 min against  J.T. Miller
17:43    NJD    SHG - Travis Zajac (8) Wrist shot - ASST: Adam Henrique (17)     2 - 1 NYR

Shots by Period
Period    NJD    NYR
1st    9    17
2nd    13    12
3rd    6    8
Total    28    37

Final Team Stats
Category    NJD    NYR
Power Plays    0/0    0/5
Hits    21    36
Faceoff Wins    27    26
Giveaways    7    12
Takeaways    5    14
Blocked Shots    27    11
Penalty Minutes    10    10

THREE STARS OF THE GAME
1. HENRIK LUNDQVIST
2. KEVIN KLEIN
3. J.T. MILLER

 THE ‪#‎NYR‬ BROADWAY HAT GOES TO #30 THE KING HENRIK LUNDQVIST!

 NEXT GAME
WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 10th NEW YORK RANGERS @ PITTSBURGH PENGUINS 8:00 PM