The Rangers sweep the Devils, dodging a bullet

Notes on the game

Alexandar Georgiev played very well in goal, stopping 25 of 28 shots in making his first start since beating the Islanders on April 9.  There was a concerning moment late in the first period when appeared to suffer a leg injury. He had to leave the ice putting no weight on his left leg.   He was able to return in the second period and played the rest of the game.  After the game Georgiev wouldn’t say much about it except that it has happened in the past and it wasn’t serious.

Igor Shesterkin came into the game during a Devils’ power play and made two saves.

Vitali Kravtsov scored his first NHL goal, two games after his apparent first goal was disallowed due to an offsides call.  This time, there was no question about the goal, on an excellent feed from Brett Howden.  Kravtov pressured the Devil’s defender, forcing a turnover. After the game, Kravtsov joked that it was his “second” goal.

The first power play unit came through big time in this game. Chris Kreider scored one of the easiest goals of his career off an outstanding feed from Mika Zibanejad and the Swede’s winning goal was on a nice feed from Ryan Strome.

The first power play unit had gone six games without scoring a goal (except for the 5v3 in the last game).   The only two 5v4 goals had come from the second unit.

Of the 11 third period leads the Rangers have blown this season, this was the second time they have gone on to win in regulation.  They have won in overtime or shootout three times, but they have given up eight possible points this season, something that may prove to cost the team a playoff berth.

The third and fourth lines came through with the two even strength goals, You have to go back to March 30 to the team’s 5-2 win over the Capitals to find the last game that the bottom six had more than one goal.

There was a mini-brawl in the first period when Jacob Trouba laid a legal open ice hit into Andreas Johnsson.  Nico Hischier came to the defense of his teammate and ended up with the only penalty. Chris Kreider scored the Rangers first goal on that power play.

Jack Hughes showed some frustration in the second period when he was called for tripping. He angrily shot the puck away and slammed his stick on the glass and took a ten minute misconduct as a result.  The Devils scored their first two goals with Hughes in the penalty box.

Artemi Panarin had another multi-point game, his eighth in the last 11 games.

Alexis Lafreniere scored his eighth goal on feeds from Filip Chytil and Kaapo Kakko. He looked like he was hurt when Devils defenseman Matt Tennyson drove him hard into the New Jersey goalie.

The Rangers finished the season series with the Devils with a 6-2 record.  The last time they had as many wins in a season against New Jersey was 2007-08 when they beat the Devils seven times in eight games.

It was a milestone day for the rookies. Beside Kravtsov’s first NHL goal, Devi lforward Marian Studenic notched his first NHL goal and forward Nolan Foote got his first NHL point, an assist on Nico Hischier’s tying goal.

In the “only in the COVID season record book” the Rangers became the first NHL team to win four straight games in the same season against the same team.

The Rangers’ penalty kill was perfect for the fourth straight game. They’ve killed 12 of their last 13 penalties. The Rangers have the third best penalty killing percentage in the NHL at 85.1 percent.  Their net penalty killing percentage is second only to Boston at 90.3%.  Net penalty kill takes into account shorthanded goals.