The Devils took a tough loss against the New York Rangers on Thursday, February 22nd, at the Prudential Center. The Rangers scored five goals, Jack Hughes scored his 18th goal of the season at 2:07 of the third period. New York extended their win streak to nine straight games.
Rangers lineup against the Devils:
Kreider - Zibanejad - Vesey
Panarin - Trocheck - Lafreniere
Cuylle - Brodzinski - Kakko
Edstrom - Goodrow - Rempe
Lindgren - Fox
Miller - Trouba
Gustafsson - Schneider
Shesterkin
Quick
Devils lineup against the Rangers:
Palat - Hischier - Bratt
Hughes - Haula - Toffoli
Meier - Lazar - Mercer
Holtz - Nosek - Bastian
Hughes - Marino
Bahl - Nemec
Siegenthaler - Smith
Daws
Poulter
At 10:46 of the first period on the power play, Mika Zibanejad gave New York a 1-0 lead. He whacked the puck five-hole on Nico Daws after he faked a slap shot in the left circle, and attempted to send a backdoor pass to Chris Kreider but it deflected off Dawson Mercer's stick and back to Zibanejad. Later into the period, Alexis Lafreniere extended the Rangers' lead to 2-0 from the right hash marks, shooting a wrist shot following a turnover by Luke Hughes.
Igor Shesterkin played extremely well, probably at his best, in the first period. He made 16 saves, along with five during the five-minute power play.
Chris Kreider pushed it 3-0 at 10:07 of the second period. Kreider scored on a 2-on-1 with Artemi Panarin... Igor Shesterkin started the rush when he sent an outlet pass to Panarin in the neutral zone and caught New Jersey on a bad line change. Alexis Lafreniere took a pass from Vincent Trocheck, splitting the defense, and boosted a forehand over Nico Daws' glove late into the middle frame.
Late into the third, Vincent Trocheck scored his second of the game and his 20th goal of the season. He one-timed a pass from Artemi Panarin on a 2-on-1 for a 5-0 lead. Only 2:07 remaining, Jack Hughes cracked a snap shot from the slot and the Devils avoided being shutout.
Jack Hughes on the loss and if he feels he's playing at the highest level: "We're just not putting pucks in the back of the net. I liked our game in Washington, we didn't really build off that tonight. We had some good opportunities to make some headway for our group, some serious momentum, and we didn't do that," - "I'm obviously not playing at my best but I got to find a way to get to that point and help us make a push."
Luke Hughes on their chances of a power play and how it affects the team mentally: "I think we got so many good players but right now, it's just not going in for us and at some point, they got to start going in... we've had some good looks last game and some good looks in this game. Right now we just got to bear down and put it in the net."
Notes:
- Jack Hughes led all players with 10 shots on goal, has six points (three goals, three assists), and is minus-2 in eight games since his return from an upper-body injury.
- New Jersey is 2-for-46 on the power play, 4.3 percent, in the past 14 games.
- Nico Daws made 19 saves for New Jersey and Igor Shesterkin made 39 saves for New York.
- Nathan Bastian got hit by Matt Rempe on an illegal check to the head. He had left the game in the first, however, he returned with his bloody nose and such. Bastian then was leveled by Jacob Trouba and he responded by grabbing Trouba... the two fought to the ice. He ended up leaving the game again but did not return later.
- Alexis Lafreniere scored two goals, Vincent Trocheck had a goal and an assist... Artemi Panarin recorded three assists.
Panarin had his 22nd three-assist game with the New York Rangers, passing Mark Messier for fourth-most in franchise history.
- The Rangers' win streak is tied for the third-longest in their history... their longest being 10 games, which they've achieved this twice (1972-73, 1939-40)
*All photos used by the New Jersey Devils used with permission*
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