Rangers 3, Devils 1
Derek Stepan recorded his third career hat trick as host New York won its eighth straight game and spoiled the co-coaching debuts of Hall-of-Famers Scott Stevens and Adam Oates with New Jersey.
Henrik Lundqvist finished with 19 saves in his 600th career contest for the Rangers, who improved to 11-0-1 in their last 12 games versus Metropolitan Division rivals and have won eight in a row for the first time since Dec. 27, 1974-Jan. 11, 1975. Martin St. Louis notched a pair of assists and defenseman Dan Boyle set up a goal for the second straight contest after going 15 games without an assist.
Steve Bernier scored his first goal in 10 games while defenseman Eric Gelinas and Tuomo Ruutu each picked up an assist for the Devils, who have dropped 14 of their last 17 contests (3-9-5). Cory Schneider turned aside 25 shots in the setback.
Stepan stripped New Jersey's Travis Zajac at center ice while short-handed and avoided the attempted poke-check of Schneider before sliding the puck between his pads with 1:46 remaining in the first period to open the scoring. Stepan doubled the lead as St. Louis' blast from above the right faceoff circle deflected off his midsection and into the net at 7:38 of the middle session.
Bernier converted a feed to the doorstep from Gelinas midway through the second to halve the deficit. The slim advantage held up until Stepan sealed the win with an empty-net tally with 55 seconds remaining.
GAME NOTEBOOK: New Jersey general manager Lou Lamoriello also will be behind the bench for a short period as the team gets acclimated to the new coaching situation. Oates is in charge of the offense and Stevens guides the defense for the Devils, who fired Peter DeBoer on Friday. ... New York has recorded four short-handed goals this season, with Stepan netting one and assisting on the other three - all scored by LW Rick Nash. ... New Jersey C Scott Gomez won 8-of-13 faceoffs while playing in his 1,000th NHL game. ... The Devils failed on all four power-play opportunities and fell to 1-for-18 over their last five contests.