Jack Hughes and Michael McLeod scored in the second period, and Vitek Vanecek stopped 35 shots as the surging New Jersey Devils returned from an early two-goal deficit to defeat the New York Rangers 5-3 on Monday night.
Yegor Sharangovich netted two goals, and Tomas Tatar scored to help the first-place Devils secure their third consecutive win since their 13-game streak was snapped. New Jersey has now won 10 straight road games, losing only once since starting the season 3-3-0.
The Rangers jumped to a 2-0 lead just three minutes into the game, but the Devils responded with two goals to tie it in the first period and then added two more in the second to take the lead.
“We stayed with our game. There was a calmness on the bench,” Devils coach Lindy Ruff said about his team’s early deficit. “All I said on the bench was, ‘let’s get the next goal, and we’ll be back in the game.’”
Vanecek improved to 11-2-0 as scattered chants of “Let’s Go Devils” were heard at Madison Square Garden.
The Devils have made the playoffs only once — in 2018 — since defeating the Rangers in six games in the 2012 Eastern Conference finals.
“It was great to hear the fans here on our side,” Devils forward Miles Wood said. “We can’t thank them enough.”
Artemi Panarin, Mika Zibanejad, and Vincent Trocheck scored, and Chris Kreider had two assists for the Rangers, who fell to 4-5-3 at home. Igor Shesterkin made 33 saves.
New York also lost its second straight at home in a disheartening manner. On Saturday, the Rangers squandered a 3-0 third-period lead against Edmonton to lose 4-3. Last season, they won 27 of 41 games at the Garden.
“When one thing goes wrong, it starts to snowball on us,” Rangers defenseman Ryan Lindgren said. ”We keep saying we have to play a full 60. You can’t keep talking about it; you must go out and do it.”
Rangers coach Gerard Gallant credited the young and hungry Devils with playing a superior game.
“They put lots of offense at you; they played fast and showed that,” Gallant said. “Tonight, they were the better team.”
Tatar narrowed the deficit to 2-1 at 7:31 of the first period with a high backhand shot past Shesterkin for his sixth goal of the season. Jesper Bratt had an assist on the play, giving him a point in 18 of the Devils’ 23 games this season.
Sharangovich tied it with an unassisted goal with 6:35 left in the first period.
Hughes put the Devils ahead at 5:44 of the second period, gaining a stride on Lindgren before sliding the puck past Shesterkin for his 12th goal of the season and fourth in the last two games.
McLeod extended the lead to 4-2 at 9:40 with his third goal after Wood hit the crossbar behind Shesterkin.
“I have to play better,” said Shesterkin, who was also in goal for Saturday’s meltdown against Edmonton and has lost three of his last five games.
It was the fourth time in their last six games the Devils scored at least four goals, and New Jersey improved to 9-0-0 when the 21-year-old Hughes — the top overall pick by the Devils in the 2019 draft — had a goal.
Trocheck scored his eighth goal on the power play for the Rangers with 6:42 left in the third to pull within one, but Sharangovich added an empty-netter with 16 seconds remaining to seal the win.
The Devils achieved a franchise-best 13-1-0 in November and an NHL-best 16-0-0 when leading after two periods.
“It’s fun playing here,” Hischier said. “It feels great to beat the Rangers.”
Panarin scored 1:20 into the game to end a personal 12-game goal-scoring drought with his sixth goal of the season and first since Oct. 30 at Arizona.
Zibanejad made it 2-0 at 3:01 with his team-best 11th goal of the season.
UP NEXT
- Devils: Host Nashville on Thursday night.
- Rangers: At Ottawa on Wednesday night.
