Zuccarello scores twice in Rangers' win over Devils
NEW YORK -- Mats Zuccarello scored twice and Henrik Lundqvist stopped 26 shots as the New York Rangers defeated the New Jersey Devils 5-2 at Madison Square Garden on Saturday night.
The Rangers (16-11-2) won for the seventh time in their last nine games.
Jimmy Vesey, Jesper Fast and Kevin Hayes also scored for the Rangers. Rick Nash had two assists.
The Devils (16-9-4) lost consecutive games in regulation for the first time this season. Damon Severson and Miles Wood scored for the Devils, who received 34 saves from Keith Kinkaid.
Vesey's sixth goal of the season at 6:14 of the first period gave the Rangers a 1-0 lead. Devils forward Brian Boyle turned over the puck in the corner to Boo Nieves, who started a tic-tac-toe goal with Paul Carey feeding Vesey for the stick-side goal past Kinkaid.
Fast's third goal in three games and sixth goal in eight games extended the Rangers' lead to 2-0 at 9:42 of the second period. Nash freed the puck in the corner and found Fast in the slot for the top-shelf goal.
Severson cut the lead to 2-1 with his fourth goal of the season at 13:45. He found room just above the right face-off circle and blasted a slap shot past Lundqvist's stick side.
Zuccarello capitalized on a Severson gaffe at 16:03 to restore the Rangers' two-goal advantage. Severson was stripped of the puck at the blue line by Zuccarello, who skated in alone and snapped a shot stick side that Kinkaid could not stop.
Zuccarello's second goal gave the Rangers a 4-1 lead at 6:21 of the third period. He found himself unchecked down low and beat Kinkaid high to the glove side.
Wood answered 13 seconds later by slamming home a cross-ice pass from Pavel Zacha to bring the Devils within 4-2.
Hayes put the game away with 8:01 left in the third by backhanding a bouncing puck past Kinkaid for his sixth goal the season that gave the Rangers a 5-2 lead.
NOTES: Devils LW Pavel Zacha was back in the lineup for the first time since Dec. 1 ... Devils RW Drew Stafford, who hasn't registered a point in his past 11 games, was a healthy scratch. ... Rangers C Mika Zibanejad (concussion) missed his fifth straight game. Coach Alain Vigneault said Zibanejad has been skating but there is still no timetable for his return. ... This marked the 10th time brothers Devils RW Jimmy Hayes and Rangers C Kevin Hayes played against each other in the NHL.