Chris Kreider paved the way for a good Rangers victory, but when No. 1 goalkeeper Igor Shesterkin was removed from the ice in the middle of the third period, there were no longer any good feelings.
The Rangers, behind a hat trick by Kreider after a poor first half, beat the Devils 6-1 on Thursday night at the Prudential Center, but lost to Shesterkin in what appeared to be an injury to the right leg. It was the Rangers ’first win against the Devils this season (after being manipulated in the previous two), but it came at a potentially high cost.
Shesterkin, who was constantly growing as Rangers manager, stretched out on the ice after saving himself from devil Damon Severson at 12:42 of the game. When Shesterkin was taken off the ice and into the locker room, he could not put any weight on his right leg.
While an impressive number of Rangers fans contributed to the 1,800 crowd in Newark, most of the team seemed to have not shown up. Except for Kreider, who scored his seventh, eighth and ninth goals (for a total of 10 points) in his last seven games to secure victory almost on his own.
Kreider put the Rangers on his back as center forward Mika Zibanejad probably fell to his lowest point of the season and was on the bench for most of the second period. Zibanejad recorded just 3:59 of ice time during the first period, and then made no changes until he finished more than half of the center frame.
With Artemi Panarin still on indefinite leave and out of training for a fifth straight game, Jacob Trouba is nursing a broken thumb and Zibanejad looks like a shell of his own, Kreider has been the backbone of the Rangers.
There was a reason Rangers Brass signed the 29-year-old winger with a seven-year deal last February, for games like this.
Jack Hughes had the Devils ’only account of the night, his third goal (and fourth point) in three games against the Rangers this season. The goal gave the Devils a 1-0 lead towards the second.
That’s when Kreider struggled to keep his streak burning, scoring consecutive goals about 5 and a half minutes apart in the second. After Devils striker Kyle Palmieri went to the box for having to cut, Kreider crashed into the net and buried a small push from Ryan Strome for his sixth goal of the season and fourth in the last six games. .
His second account of the night came after he deflected a Ryan Lindgren slap in front of Devils goalkeeper Mackenzie Blackwood at 1:57 p.m. It looks like Kreider has started settling into his house in front of the fold again.
Kreider completed the hat trick 23 seconds from third. Goals from Pavel Buchnevich, Brendan Smith and Alexis Lafreniere completed the victory.
The Devils came out exactly as they had in the first two games against the Rangers, going through the neutral zone and going raw. Hughes played the stick disc to set the tone, while the Blueshirts just chased the disc and skated on top of each other.
Hughes’ goal at 7:12 of the first was a microcosm of how the Rangers competed in the first. With no blue ones, Hughes cleared a record that bounced off the back boards to make it 1-0.
Outside the clash at 10:04, Devils defender Dmitry Kulikov hit the pipe with a rocket from the point.