The boys on Broadway are back, with vengeance.
The New York Rangers defeated the New Jersey Devils 5-1 to kick off the series. Although the Rangers committed four penalties, the penalty kill was outstanding and didn’t allow a power-play goal. The Devils only recorded ___ shots, with _ of them coming on their fourth and final power play.
New York looked like a completely different team from their last matchup with the Devils. They started off with a beautiful goal from Vladimir Tarasenko, followed by a Chris Kreider power-play goal. With this, Kreider became the Ranger’s all-time leader in playoff goals at 35 passing the late, great Rod Gilbert.
The first period came to a close with the Rangers holding a 2-0 lead, but during the second period, the momentum shifted. The Devils started to create opportunities but were stopped by Igor Shesterkin, who had a stellar performance. As the period continued, a power-play goal was called back due to a high stick by Alexis Lafreniere. Luckily, Ryan Lindgren came back quickly to put the Rangers up by three.
The Rangers continued to dominate in the third period, scoring another power-play goal from who else but Chris Kreider. A dreadful giveaway by K’Andre Miller in the offensive zone led to a breakaway opportunity for Jack Hughes, who ended up getting a penalty shot due to a slashing call on Jacob Trouba. Hughes scored, and the Devils were finally on the board.
The game ended with a dominant win by the Rangers, who couldn’t be stopped. The Blueshirts were firing on all cylinders and controlled every aspect of the game. The biggest key in the series for New York was playing physical, and minimizing giveaways that the Devils could potentially capitalize on, which they did.
The players of the game for the Rangers are easily Chris Kreider and Adam Fox. Kreider made his presence felt as he had a substantial impact on offense. Fox assisted on 4 of the 5 Rangers’ goals, creating countless opportunities throughout the game.
Shesterkin comes up big
Once again, Igor Shesterkin had an all-around masterful outing. With a total of 28 shots on goal, Shesterkin saved 27 giving him a .964 save percentage on the night. Besides the penalty shot goal by Hughes, he was perfect. Ultimately, the goal allowed is because of K’Andre Miller’s giveaway.
In the other net was Vitek Vanecek. He allowed 4 goals on 22 shot attempts and a save percentage of .818. Unfourtauntley for Vanecek, the Rangers were putting on offensive pressure in every period.
Although the Ranger’s offense played great, they wouldn’t have won this game without Shesterkin. He did not get flustered when the Devils started getting more shots on goal and stayed composed leading to incredible saves.
They will look to take game two on Thursday and have a 2-0 lead heading back to the Garden.
