Mika Zibanejad’s OT goal lifts New York Rangers over New Jersey Devils (Highlights)

After a slow start, the New Jersey Devils made the New York Rangers work. In the end, Mika Zibanejad took it home in a sneaky fashion in OT.

• New York Rangers 4 (40-19-2, 82 pts)
• New Jersey Devils 3 (25-26-10, 60 pts)
• Metro, Final, Box Score
• Prudential Center, Newark, NJ[sc name=”Rangers Center Right” ]

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]his is what happens when the better team allows the weaker team to hang around. This is also what happens when the less talented team deploys a goalie that keeps them in the game.

After falling down 2-0 and getting dominated on home ice, the New Jersey Devils stunned the New York Rangers with a goal late in the second period and two goals early in the third coming 47 seconds within one another, both coming off the hot stick of Kyle Palmieri, his 17th and 18th goals of the campaign.

The Rangers were stunned. It took some time, but they eventually found that dominant footing and took to dominating in the Jersey zone. It finally paid off at the 15:35 mark of the third when Adam Clendening fired one at the net for his second goal of the season:

Adam Clendening ties it for the Rangers. Chris Kreider did the dirty work. 3-3 game at The Rock. #NYR pic.twitter.com/aFxqzt8CwF

— ESNY (@EliteSportsNY) February 26, 2017

The overtime frame saw excitement, of course. Palmieri found himself all alone and couldn’t capitalize. This quickly turned into a Mike Zibanejad chance that he buried, one that saw him go five-hole in a very sneaky manner. It was his first goal in 16 games:

Raanta comes up large on Palmieri while Zibanejad goes SNEAKY five-hole to win it for the #NYR. pic.twitter.com/P4v4QOxydE

— ESNY (@EliteSportsNY) February 26, 2017

Cory Schneider represents the first Devils stud of the game. He stopped 36-of-40 shots, many of which were big time gets with his team already down 2-0. He single-handedly kept his team alive during much of the 60-plus minutes.

Antti Raanta, starting for the red-hot Henrik Lundqvist, was great early on. Despite seeing many stretches of inactivity in the game, he wound up stopping 36-of39 Devils shots.

[sc name=”HayGrabMillerTShirt” ]

Kreider, who did the dirty work on the Rangers game-tying goal, opened the scoring with a wacky deflection that saw its way past Schneider. Jesper Fast and Oscar Lindberg, New York’s tremendous fourth-line, combined for a beautiful goal that made it 2-0 later in the first period:

Oscar Lindberg and Jesper Fast are GOOD. 2-0 #NYR. pic.twitter.com/HN04hUghZh

— ESNY (@EliteSportsNY) February 25, 2017

The other goal scorer for New Jersey was Adam Henrique, who wrapped one around on Raanta late in the second:

Cory Schneider's brilliance and this Adam Henrique goal make this one a serious game. 2-1 #NYR lead. #NJDevils pic.twitter.com/zE6YrMCEIZ

— ESNY (@EliteSportsNY) February 25, 2017

The win propels the Rangers into the third spot in the Metro, just one point ahead of the Columbus Blue Jackets who beat up on the Islanders today. The loss for New Jersey keeps them down in the second to last slot in the Metro.

The Rangers have now won 40 games for four straight seasons. Next up for New York will be a Sunday afternoon home date with the Columbus Blue Jackets.

[sc name=”Rangers Link Next” link=”elitesportsny.com/2017/02/25/2-puzzle-pieces-the-new-york-rangers-need-target-brian-boyle-included-506/” text=”2 puzzle pieces the Rangers need to target” ]