The New York Rangers have struggled on special teams all season — and it was certainly another struggle for the Rangers in Saturday's edition of the Hudson River Rivalry.
And to say it was a struggle was putting it lightly. The New Jersey Devils parleyed a power-play goal and a short-handed goal 1:27 apart midway through the second frame into a 4-0 victory at Prudential Center that blew another gaping hole in New York’s playoff hopes. New Jersey's Timo Meier was on fire for the Devils. His power-play goal at 10:56 of the middle period opened the scoring, and Jesper Bratt connected on a shorthanded 2-on-1 break at 12:23, giving the Devils a lead they would never look back on. Meier made it 3-0 with 4:59 left in the third period, and captain Nico Hischier added insult to injury for the Rangers fans who made the trip to Newark by hitting the empty net 1:11 later.
The Blueshirts finished 0-for-2 on the power play, dropping them to two for their last 43 — a ridiculously unimpressive statistic. Want another one? They’ve allowed three shorthanded goals in the past four games, including one in each of their past two.
carefuL on the way out. pic.twitter.com/VInmMLpPfg
— New Jersey Devils (@NJDevils) April 5, 2025
The Rangers' Thoughts on their Power Play
Head Coach Peter Laviolette said postgame that allowing shorthanded goals are specifically an issue.
- “We’re looking for something offensively, maybe pressing too much,” Laviolette said. “Any time you’re doing that, you’re subject to get caught the other way.”
Veteran Blueshirt Mika Zibanejad said the power-play struggles obviously aren’t just a recent issue.
- “It’s the whole season,” Zibanejad said. “We’re close to dead last. That’s not good enough.”
Adam Fox, who had some defensive lapses against the Devils, also chimed in.
- "It's the difference right now, right? The margin is so thin. I think 5-on-5 we've been pretty good and you let up shorthanded goals, you let up power-play goals against, you lose games by 1-2," Fox said. "Tie 5v5 or even win the 5v5 game, it's costing us. It has been for a little bit now."
Let's not forget the Rangers also outshot New Jersey 26-16 — including 11-4 in the final frame. Goaltender Igor Shesterkin made 12 saves and had no chance on any of the three goals he allowed — but got no help from his defensemen.
As a result of their power play and being unable to take advantage of injuries that sidelined center Jack Hughes and defenseman Dougie Hamilton from play on Saturday, New Jersey’s two most important offensive players.
Overall New York failed for the eighth consecutive time to win three straight games. They haven't had a run this bad since November 14th-19th. Of these eight games mentioned, the Rangers are 0-4-4 in the midst of trying to claw their way into a wild card playoff spot.