The New Jersey Devils defeated the New York Rangers 5-1 at Madison Square Garden on Monday night.
The Devils’ top players came to play and the Rangers top players didn’t. It didn’t take long for the visitors to open the scoring. Jesper Bratt picked up the puck in the neutral zone, skated in on a two-on-one and whisked a shot past Igor Shesterkin, just 1:27 inside the first period. Bratt’s goal was assisted by Ondrej Palat and Jonathan Kovacevic.
Jesper Bratt is feeling it — he's up to 32 points in 28 games! 🔥#NHLStats: https://t.co/KSnjoV5BqE pic.twitter.com/MzZZv2v5Qf
— NHL (@NHL) December 3, 2024
Then at 7:10, the Devils struck again. A neutral zone turnover by Will Cuylle led to Luke Hughes carrying the puck into the Rangers’ zone. Once inside the Rangers zone, Luke Hughes passed it to Dawson Mercer, who then passed it back to Luke Hughes who took a one-timer. The one-timer was blocked by a Ranger and the loose puck was picked up by Mercer, who skated and took a wrist shot to the far side of the net that beat Shesterkin.
Dawson Mercer takes a quick 2-0 lead for the @NJDevils in the Hudson River Rivalry! pic.twitter.com/rRcB0FL8V8
— Devils on MSG (@DevilsMSGN) December 3, 2024
Shortly after this, defensive woes continued for the Rangers as the Devils’ Jack Hughes skated in on a breakaway but his attempt at a ‘Forsberg’ deke was denied by the Ranger netminder.
The action picked up in the second period when the Rangers’ Reilly Smith was called for a tripping penalty. A minute and a half into the penalty, Adam Fox was called for a minor penalty, giving the Devils a five-on-three for 20 seconds. The Rangers were able to kill the five-on-three, but when it went back to a five-on-four, the Devils Dougie Hamilton received a pass from Jack Hughes and rifled a slap shot into the net to give the Devils a 3-0 lead at 9:04.
Dougie Hamilton puts New Jersey up by 3 😈#NJDevils pic.twitter.com/SJxaNwmtPh
— Hockey Daily 365 l NHL Highlights & News (@HockeyDaily365) December 3, 2024
It got worse for the Blueshirts when Jack Hughes scored a rebound in front of the Ranger net to make it 4-0 at 12:38 of the second period. The goal was assisted by Luke Hughes.
At 13:05, the Devils Jonathan Kovacevic took a delay of game penalty. On the ensuing power play, Artemi Panarin made a pass to Chris Kreider, who redirected the pass through his legs to Mika Zibanejad. Zibanejad took a shot, and the rebound came out to Kreider who scored his 10th goal of the season at 13:29 to make it 4-1.
Chris Kreider gets one back for New York with his 10th tally of the year, power play goal!#NYR pic.twitter.com/PWYMyBDzM4
— Hockey Daily 365 l NHL Highlights & News (@HockeyDaily365) December 3, 2024
With just under five minutes left in the period, the Devils turned the puck over at their own blue line. Vincent Trocheck carried the puck into the offensive zone for the Rangers, slipping a pass over to Zibanejad, who skated in on a breakaway. The Ranger forward deked to his backhand and Devils goaltender Jacob Markstrom was able to lay out and make the save.
At 18:04, the Devils Justin Dowling was called for interference and at the same time, Will Cuylle for embellishment. This created a four-on-four which lasted for 39 seconds until Kreider took a penalty for interference. On the ensuing four-on-three power play for New Jersey, Jack Hughes struck again. This time, Jack Hughes was given plenty of space to carry the puck into the high slot where he ripped a wrist shot that beat Shesterkin through a screen.
At the end of the second period, the Devils Erik Haula was called for interference, giving the Rangers a power play to start the third period. The Devils killed this penalty—their fifth of the game and the Rangers power play which came into this game ranked 11th in the National Hockey League (NHL) continued to struggle against a Devils team committed to blocking shots.
The Rangers could not generate the offense that was necessary to stage a comeback in the third period and the Devils skated to a comfortable 5-1 victory.
The three stars of the game were swept by the Devils; Markstrom earned the third star for allowing just one goal on 39 shots; Bratt earned the second star for scoring four points; Jack Hughes earned the first star for scoring three points (two goals and an assist).
With the win, New Jersey improves to 11-4-0 this season on the road and 17-9-2 overall while the Rangers fall to 6-5-1 on home ice and 13-10-1 overall. The Devils moved into sole occupation of first place in the Metropolitan division.
