Devils Top Players, Special Teams Show Up; Markstrom Blanks Rangers, Again

NEWARK—Saturday’s Hudson River Rivalry matchup lacked a certain juice that’s persisted in each meeting before this weekend’s. The New Jersey Devils’ quest for points to clinch their spot in the Stanley Cup Playoffs continues. Meanwhile, the New York Rangers, who are on the outside looking in, but within striking distance, looked like a team that’s given up.

Before the puck even dropped, it was good news for the Devils who were getting Cody Glass back in the lineup. Seamus Casey also made his Hudson River Rivalry debut.

Through the first 10 minutes of the first period, the ice was tilted New Jersey’s way. It wasn’t necessarily the best start for the Devils who held a 4-0 shot advantage through the first 8:40 of the game. However, it was more of a rough start for the Rangers who couldn’t build any chemistry, lacking cohesiveness following puck drop.

As the period progressed to its second half, the Rangers forced Jacob Markstrom to make a high-danger save or two on a couple of broken sequences.

However, the Devils began to find their rhythm and spent the majority of the opening frame in Igor Shesterkin’s end of the ice, peppering him with 11 shots through the first 20 minutes.

Despite coming away from the first period scoreless, the Devils forced Shesterkin to make 1.12 saves above expected.

The Rangers came out in the second period with an increased intensity and pace of play.

The Blueshirts controlled the possession early and often, and went to the man advantage about five minutes into the period after Justin Dowling took a high sticking infraction against K’Andre Miller.

Despite being shorthanded, the Devils’ strong penalty kill structure allowed Jesper Bratt to be sprung for a breakaway. Shesterkin made the save, and sent play to the other end of the ice.

On the Rangers’ lone chance on the man advantage, Markstrom made two excellent saves on Mika Zibanejad, who picked up his own rebound in an attempt to score.

The Devils took back puck possession and pressured Shesterkin in the Rangers’ end of the ice. After Sam Carrick was called for interference at 10:52 of the second period, the Devils went to their first power play.

After winning the face-off in the offensive zone, Luke Hughes fed Timo Meier in the right circle, and he converted on the one-time shot to give New Jersey a 1-0 lead.

Dawson Mercer quickly took a tripping penalty after the Devils took their lead and went to the penalty kill. Short a man, the Devils once again created an odd-man scoring rush on the penalty kill. Led by captain Nico Hischier, the Devils captain fed Bratt for an easy back door tap-in on a short-handed, 2-on-1 rush, quickly turning the scoreless tie into a 2-0 advantage for New Jersey.

Although the Devils carried their 2-0 lead into the third period, the Rangers’ push to find the scoresheet continued. Similarly to their second-period start, the Rangers possessed the puck early and often in the third period.

However, the Devils held the Blueshirts to perimeter, low-danger chances.

The Devils eventually took the momentum back when Meier scored his second goal of the game, and his ninth in his last 17 games, to give the Devils a 3-0 lead.

Rangers head coach Peter Laviolette pulled Shesterkin for an extra attacked with just under four minutes remaining in the games. Nico Hischier scored on the empty net, his 35th goal of the season.

Markstrom registered his second shutout against the Rangers this season, making 26 saves on 26 shots through 60 minutes.

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