Rangers extend streak by blanking Devils
NEW YORK, NY -- With Henrik Lundqvist watching from the bench for the third game in a row, backup goaltender Antti Raanta helped the New York Rangers extend their winning streak to three with a 5-0 victory over the New Jersey Devils on Sunday night at Madison Square Garden.
Raanta stopped all 19 shots he faced, earning his second straight shutout and sixth of his career. In backstopping consecutive wins over the Winnipeg Jets, Chicago Blackhawks and Devils this week, Raanta surrendered only one goal on 63 shots.
Chris Kreider scored a first period goal for New York and assisted on Brandon Pirri's power-play goal in the third which made the score 4-0. Jimmy Vesey added another power-play goal with 1:18 to play to close out the scoring.
The loss was New Jersey's third in a row. The Devils have been outscored 14-3 in those three defeats.
Kreider opened the scoring at 16:43 of the first period, snapping a right-wing shot past Devils goaltender Cory Schneider. Kreider's eighth goal was assisted by Mats Zuccarello, who won a puck battle with New Jersey defenseman Andy Greene before making a slick feed to Kreider in front.
Though the Devils did not muster much offense, they kept the deficit at one until the Rangers scored a pair of backbreaking goals late in the second period.
At 16:07, J.T. Miller converted a two-on-one feed from Kevin Hayes for a shorthanded goal after New Jersey's Kyle Palmieri had fallen in the neutral zone. Then, with 2.5 seconds remaining in the period, Brady Skjei scored the first goal of his National Hockey League career, a booming slap shot after an offensive-zone face off win with less than six seconds on the clock, to give the Rangers a 3-0 lead heading into the second intermission.
New Jersey appeared to have taken a 1-0 lead just 69 second into the game, but Adam Henrique's goal was disallowed after video review showed he had kicked the puck under Raanta's pads and into the net.
NOTES: Dating to Dec. 17, 2006, Rangers G Henrik Lundqvist had started the last 25 games played between New York and New Jersey at Madison Square Garden before he served as G Antti Raanta's backup on Sunday. ... The Rangers lost C Josh Jooris earlier in the day after he was claimed on waivers by the Arizona Coyotes. ... RW Rick Nash (groin), C Mika Zibanejad (fractured fibula), RW Pavel Buchnevich (back) and LW Matt Puempel (concussion) all remained out of Rangers lineup with injuries. ... The Rangers healthy scratch was D Adam Clendening. ... D Jon Merrill, who had been a healthy scratch the previous five games, replaced rookie D Yohann Auvitu in the lineup for New Jersey. ... Devils C Pavel Zacha (facial lacerations) skated in the morning, but missed his fourth consecutive game, while C Jacob Josefson also was scratched by New Jersey.