Notes on the game
Igor Shesterkin has been plagued by injuries since he joined the Rangers. He first sustained an ankle injury in February 2020 that cost him two starts. Then he was injured later that month in a car accident, sustaining a fractured rib. He suffered a groin injury that kept him out of he first two games of the Stanley Cup Qualifier. In his first 33 games in New York, he was injured in a third of them.
The Rangers were outshot 36-19 by the Devils, as New Jersey had the advantage in each period.
The Devils absolutely dominated on faceoffs, winning 64% of the draws. The Devils came into the game worst in the NHL at 43.1% with the Rangers at 44.7%. The Devils are still worst, but now by only 0.2%.
No Ranger center was better than 50% with Ryan Strome winning half of his 10 draws.
The Ranger power play was 1-2 as they scored their first power play goal in three games.
The penalty kill continues to excel, killing all four Devils power plays. They’ve killed 46 of 49 penalties and have shut out the opposition power play in 12 out of the their last 14 games.
David Quinn continues to roll four lines. Filip Chytil had the most ice time of all forwards, playing 16:46.
Chytil had an excellent game. Besides leading all forwards in ice time, he was a +3 and he added an assist, his first point since January 22.
This is Chris Kreider’s best goal scoring streak of his career. with nine goals in six games. His previous high was six goals in six games in December 2018.
Akexis Lafrenière has a four game point scoring streak and has three goals and three assists in his last six games.
For Mika Zibanejad, his 13:04 minutes of playing time was the fewest since December 23, 2017 when he played 12:41 in a loss to Toronto. He was benched for the last 18:09 of the game by coach Alain Vigneault.
Ryan Lindgren had his ninth assist of the season, fourth most on the team. He is still looking for his first goal and thought he had it on the goal Kreider deflected.
Brendan Smith and Michael McLeod fought during the third period after McLeod hit Smith into the boards from behind. It looked like it should have been a boarding penalty, but it wasn’t called.
In the battle of the #1 draft picks, Alexis Lafrenière won round three. Hughes had one goal and was -1, while the Ranger had a goal and an assist and was +1.
After the game it was announced that Walter Gretzky, Wayne’s had passed away.
— New York Rangers (@NYRangers) March 5, 2021