NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — Evan Rodrigues scored with 29.6 seconds left in the first period to begin a barrage of four goals in just over five minutes, and the New Jersey Devils rolled over the New York Rangers 7-1 on Thursday night in the first matchup this season between the cross-Hudson River rivals.
The bubble burst on the Rangers and Dylan Garand, the minor-league callup who had been spectacular in his first two starts — and wins — since franchise goaltender
Igor Shesterkin was lost to a season-ending injury. Teammates did him few favors this time.
Captain J.T. Miller, who was spectacular on a 5-on-3 penalty kill and had a strong offensive-zone shift near the end of the first, whiffed on a passing attempt that put the puck on Rodrigues' stick in prime scoring territory. Top-pairing defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov had a giveaway that led to Luke Hughes' first of two goals, which came 18 seconds out of intermission.
Garand made a puck-handling mistake that led to Devils captain Nico Hischier scoring on a tap-in. The shift after New York coach Mike Sullivan called timeout to attempt to stunt his opponent's momentum, Arseny Gritsyuk scored on a juicy rebound to end Garand's night following four goals on 13 shots.
Spencer Martin allowed goals to Hughes, Stefan Noesen and Cody Glass in relief.
New Jersey's Nico Daws was perfect until Pavel Dorofeyev scored a deflection goal on a power play in the third and finished with 18 saves. Hughes registered the first multigoal game of his NHL career, while Timo Meier, Brett Pesce, Amadeus Lombardi, Dawson Mercer and Dougie Hamilton each had a pair of assists for the Devils, who won their second in a row and handed the Rangers just their third defeat in nine games.
Rangers: Visit Columbus on Saturday night.
Devils: Visit Washington on Saturday.
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