If only it were always this easy.
The New Jersey Devils defeated the New York Rangers tonight by a score of 6-3. If you’re experiencing some deja-vu reading that sentence, that’s because the Devils also beat the Rangers 6-3 less than two weeks ago. Jack Hughes was the story of that game, and Jack Hughes was the story of this game. His goal and two assists helped key a suddenly unstoppable Devils offense. Connor Brown chipped in with a goal and two assists of his own, and Nico Hischier and Jesper Bratt
each registered a pair of points themselves.
This was a thorough domination from start to finish. The scoreboard might not have reflected that until New Jersey scored a pair of late goals in the third to make this a blowout, but the Devils absolutely smashed the Rangers tonight. New Jersey outshot New York 39-18, including a bewildering 17-2 in the first period. According to Natural Stat Trick, the Devils finished the night with an Expected Goals For% just north of 69%. The power play kept rolling, scoring twice in four tries. The Devils skaters were doing whatever they wanted, whenever they wanted. I credit New Jersey for this, but I would be lying if I told you it was all them, as the Rangers played very uninspired hockey. There is such a lack of talent on that team, and they brought very little effort to tonight’s contest. New Jersey was the better team, and this was an impressive victory, but New York also made it extremely easy for them.
The only reason this was still a game for 55 minutes was because Jacob Markstrom was deeply, deeply awful this evening. He allowed three goals on those 18 Ranger shots, good for an .833 save percentage. Natural Stat Trick had New York at 1.54 xGF in all situations, meaning Markstrom gave up about a goal-and-a-half more than expected. At one point, the game was tied when shots were 16-2 and then 17-3 in favor of the Devils, which should be illegal. He was spraying room-service rebounds all over the place, he was swimming in his crease as always, and if the team in front of him didn’t idiot-proof the game, we would be talking about another dispiriting loss. To his credit, he made a big save on an Alexis Lafreniere breakaway (with help from a slash from Simon Nemec), but that was the beginning and end of the praise for Markstrom tonight.
But that’s all the complaining I will do about this game. If you put Markstrom aside, this was one of the most enjoyable Devils games of the season. It’s always good to beat the Rangers of course, but especially in a bloodbath like this. Watching Hughes continue his ownership of the Rangers is fun, watching Arseny Gritsyuk make Adam Fox and Jonathan Quick look like chumps is fun, watching Timo Meier maintain his reputation for being a March assassin is fun, and watching Brown and Hischier and Bratt all put up big nights is fun. Everyone up and down the lineup contributed.
The Devils have now scored six goals in two consecutive games. They have scored six goals three times this season (their only three times this season), all since that March 7 game against the Rangers. The offense overall has been humming since the Olympic break, and the wins are starting to pile up as a result. It’s still almost certainly too little too late, which is truly frustrating. But New Jersey has been playing inspired hockey lately. The product has been much more fun to watch, and not just because it has led to wins. The brand of hockey the Devils are playing is exciting, it’s compelling, and most importantly, it plays to this roster’s strengths. That it took them until the season was already lost to figure it out is such a shame.
But for tonight, the Devils beat the Rangers. It’s always a good night when the Devils beat the Rangers. It might have been over an empty husky of what used to be the Rangers, but for one night, the Devils gave us a reminder of the team they can be at their best.
The Game Stats: The NHL.com Game Summary | The NHL.com Event Summary | The NHL.com Play by Play Log | The NHL.com Shot Summary | The Natural Stat Trick Game Stats
The Game Highlights: Courtesy of NHL.com
A Milestone Night
With his assist on Nico Hischier’s power play goal in the first period, Jesper Bratt reached the 500-point plateau. His goal later in the contest meant he finished the night at 501 career points. Reaching such a mark in the NHL is impressive enough, but for a sixth round pick to do so is something truly special. Bratt has pushed himself further than anyone except perhaps himself ever thought he could go, and he is without doubt one of the great homegrown Devils success stories. Tonight, a tip of the cap to the 162nd pick in the 2016 draft. Congratulations on your milestone, Jesper.
The Power Play Is Back
The Devils play one more game against the Rangers this season, and if you’re New York, the gameplan for that contest has to start with staying out of the box. New Jersey eviscerated the Rangers’ penalty kill in the first game of the season series, going 3-for-3 with the man advantage. Tonight wasn’t quite on that level, but 2-for-4 on the power play is still terrific production. Even in one of the advantages that didn’t yield a goal, the Devils (particularly the second unit) completely smothered the Rangers’ PK, including Luke Hughes ringing a shot off a post. According to my quick math, the Devils have gone 5-for-7 total on the PP over two games against New York. Simply put, the Rangers have no answers for New Jersey’s power play.
And it’s not just domination over the Rangers either. After tonight’s contest, over their last 17 power plays, New Jersey has converted nine times. That’s a 53% success rate, which is out of this world. It’s a small sample size of course, and it won’t continue. But for a unit that struggled so much through huge portions of this season, it’s nice to see it back at the height of its powers.
Next Time Out
The Devils continue their road trip on Friday when they travel to Washington to battle the Capitals. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:00pm.
Your Take
What did you make of tonight’s game? Aside from the players we’ve already heaped praise on, what other Devils impressed you? What do you expect next time out against Washington? As always, thanks for reading!
