Chris Kreider paved the way for a sentimental Rangers victory, but when goalkeeper Igor Shesterkin, No. 1, was carried off halfway through the third period from the ice, there were no good feelings left.
The Rangers, behind a three-pointer from Kreider after a sluggish first period, defeated the Devils 6-1 at Prudential Center on Thursday night, but they lost to Shesterkin due to an injury to his right leg. It was the Rangers’ first win over the Devils this season (after dealing with a man in the previous two), but it came at a very high cost.
Shesterkin, who gradually emerged as the Rangers ‘go-to net-lesser, spread on the ice after making a save with 12:42 left in the game against the Devils’ Damon Severson. While Shesterkin was carried off the ice and into the locker room, he could not place any weight on his right leg.
While an impressive number of Rangers fans contributed to the crowd of 1,800 in Newark, it seemed like the majority of the team did not show up. Except for Kreider, who has scored his seventh, eighth and ninth goals (for a total of 10 points) in his last seven games to claim the victory almost single-handedly.
Kreider put the Rangers on his back as Mika Zibanejad, the top center, probably became his lowest point of the season and was ranked for a majority of the second period. Zibanejad recorded just 3:59 ice time in the first period and then did not take another shift until more than half of the middle frame was over.
With Artemi Panarin still on indefinite leave and not for a fifth consecutive game, Jacob Trouba was a broken thumb and Zibanejad looks like a shell of himself. Kreider was the backbone of the Rangers.
There was a reason Rangers buyers signed the 29-year-old winger last February for a seven-year deal – for such games.
Jack Hughes had the Devils’ lone score of the night, his third goal (and fourth point) in three games against the Rangers this season. The goal gave the Devils a 1-0 lead after the second.
It was then that Kreider went to work to keep his hot streak on fire and scored with about 5 ½ minutes apart in the second consecutive goals. After Devils forward Kyle Palmieri went to the box office to hack, Kreider crashed the net and buried a smooth supply from Ryan Strome for his sixth power play of the season, and his fourth in the last six games.
His second score of the night comes after he rejected a slap shot from Ryan Lindgren past Devils netder Mackenzie Blackwood at 13:57. It appears that Kreider has begun to settle in his home again before the crease.
Kreider completes the hat trick 23 seconds after the third. Goals from Pavel Buchnevich, Brendan Smith and Alexis Lafreniere rounded out the victory.
The Devils came out exactly as in the first two games against the Rangers, crossed through the neutral area and passed sharply. Hughes rings the puck off the pole to set the tone, while the Blueshirts just chase the puck and skate on each other.
Hughes’ goal at 7:12 from the first was a microcosm of how the Rangers participated in the first. With no one in a blue printed back, Hughes cleared a shoe that bounced off the back boards for the 1-0 lead.
From the face off at 10:04, Devils defender Dmitry Kulikov hits the pipe with a rocket fired from the tip.