Jack Hughes Puts Pretty Bow on Devils Win vs. Rangers

Who else but Jack Hughes to put the nail in the coffin of Thursday night’s New Jersey Devils victory over their rivals, the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden. Although they didn’t score halfway through the first period, it was a strong start for the Devils who held an 8-1 shot advantage by the 10:00 mark of the opening frame. And although the Devils continued to possess the puck, the Rangers struck first when Vladamir Gavrikov’s shot from the blueline found twine to give New York a 1-0 lead at the 15:20 mark.

35 seconds later, the officials whistled Rangers forward Gabe Perreault for holding Hughes, sending the Devils to the games first power play. The Devils won the opening draw of the man advantage. From the left circle, Jesper Bratt fed Connor Brown in the slot who redirected the puck on Jonathan Quick.

The Rangers goaltender made the initial save, but Devils captain Nico Hischier batted the airborne rebound over the goal line to tie the game at one goal each. Bratt’s assist on Hischier’s goal is the 500th point in his career. Before the first period could end, the Devils took the lead when Arseny Gristyuk ‘s quick snapshot beat Quick shortside to give New Jersey a 2-1 lead going into the first intermission.

As quickly as the puck dropped for the second period, the Rangers tied the game nearly as fast. At the 19 second mark of the middle frame, Mika Zibanejad rifled a shot on Markstrom, and although he got a piece of the puck, it landed in the Devils goal to knot the game at two goals each. The Rangers’ second goal of the night was just their third shot of the game.