Keith Kinkaid and the New Jersey Devils skated into MSG and easily handled the fragile New York Rangers on Saturday night.
- New York Rangers 2 (1-5, 2 pts)
- New Jersey Devils 3 (4-1, 8 pts)
- NHL, Metro, Final, Box Score
- Madison Square Garden, New York, NY
Not even Jesper Fast returning to the lineup could save the fragile New York Rangers.
Despite scoring first — a Rick Nash special 5:31 into the second period — the New Jersey Devils tallied three unanswered goals in picking up the sound 3-1 victory while extending the Rangers early-season misery.
The frustration was visible all night long. Alain Vigneault had no answers. Ryan McDonagh couldn’t figure things out. And the Rangers continued to take senseless penalties all night long.
The star of the night was Devils backstop Keith Kinkaid who stole this one with 29 saves. In fact, it was the home team who outshot the victors by a total of 31 to 19.
Timely penalty killing and a solid defensive structure won the night, especially in the third period. New Jersey blocked so much of what the Rangers wanted to do via the shot and pass.
Nash’s goal was his first of the season. The play was really made by David Desharnais who circled the net and provided one beauty of a setup:
After that, it was all Devs.
Adam Henrique netted his second of the season a little under five minutes after the Rangers opened the scoring.
With 3:19 to go in the second period, Miles Wood put the Devils up for good. New York just couldn’t clear the traffic out from in front of the net:
To add insult onto another Rangers loss, Drew Stafford took a beautiful feed from Will Butcher on a 4-on-3 power play and finished top shelf early in the third period:
Marc Staal was absolutely abused on the play.
Kevin Shattenkirk added a late one with the netminder pulled to make the final score a little closer. It counts as his second of the season.
New Jersey finished 1-for-5 on the power play while New York finished unsuccessfully in three chances.
Ondrej Pavelec received his first start with his new team and finished to mixed reviews. He did allow the three goals but wasn’t afford much of a chance even while facing just 19 shots.
The defensive breakdowns at certain key spots in the game just continue to haunt the Blueshirts.
The Rangers are now 1-5. The last time they started a season 1-5 came all the way back in 1980. They also collected the final 14 shots on goal in the game.
Next up for the Rangers will be Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins at home on Tuesday night. The Devils will next turn their attention to the Tampa Bay Lightning for a date at The Rock on Tuesday night.