I don't expect a lot of you to know what the title means - but the Devil has many names....Lucifer, Satan....and Mephistopholes. The Rangers out a new name on the Devils Tuesday night....defeated. A furious 3rd period comeback culminated in an OT win for the Blueshirts over the New Jersey Devils by a score of 4-3.
The Rangers power(less) play came alive for the first time this season as Chris Kreider tallied off the rebound of a Ryan McDonagh shot at 7:36. Martin St. Louis picked up his 5th assist of the year on the Rangers first power play goal after 17 feeble attempts. Former Ranger Jaromir Jagr was in the penalty box, and the reason I mention this is that roughly six minutes later, the roles reversed. Kreider was in the box for a phantom hook on Jagr, who complained to the referee and got the call. While Kreider was sitting and stewing, Jagr took a deliberate wide shot rebound off of the back boards and scored his first goal of the season at 13:40. The last goal Jagr scored against the Rangers was scored against which goaltender? Answer to follow......(keep in mind Jagr came to the Rangers, was the Capitain of the team, and hold the Rangers single season record for goals scored at 54).
The second period only saw one goal scored, and that was another Devils power play goal. This one was scored by Adam Henrique, who it seems like scores all the time against the Rangers - but in the regular season before this game, in 14 games, he had 2 goals, 0 assists and was a -9. However in the playoffs, it seems like he has 147 goals in 9 games. Either way, Henrique took a pass from Jagr and banked one in off of Kevin Klein, past Henrik Lundqvist to give the Devils the 2-1 lead that they would carry into the third period.
The third didn't start well for the Rangers either, as Jon Merrill took a cross ice pass on, you guessed it, the power play, waltzed in from the right point all the way to just inside the faceoff circle and beat Lundqvist clean, giving the Devils a 3-1 lead. Things did not look great for the Rangers at that point, but the newly energized power play clicked again, as Chris Mueller, promoted from the 4th line, manning the left point on the power play, took a cross ice pass from Derick Brassard and one-timed a shot past Cory Schneider to bring the Rangers within one at 3-2.
With a little over 5 minutes left in the game, three guesses who tied the score for the Rangers. If you guessed the league's leading goal scorer, Rick Nash, you would be right. The Rangers took a gift from Devils defenseman Marek Zidlicky, who blindly threw the puck into the slot, where Kevin Hayes rifled one toward the net. Schneider made the save, but left a juicy rebound that Nash grabbed, moved to the backhand, and deposited his 8th of the season for a 3-3 tie.
Both teams hit goal posts before the end of regulation, but for the second time this season, the Rangers were forced to play "ooooooooovertiiiiiiiime" as Sabres announcer Rick Jeanerette would say. The Devils had a glorious opportunity turned away, and the rebound turned back to a rushing Chris Kreider, who played a little catch with Chris Mueller, who gave Kredier the puck back just inside the Devils blue line. Kreider carried the puck across the slot, and dished to a trailing, and wide open, Kevin Klein. A Fish Called Wanda took the pass, cruised down the slot, and beat Schneider clean for the 4-3 OT win.
PLUS/MINUS
PLUS - Chris Mueller. A promotion from the 4th line, and a goal and an assist. Great game for #14.
PLUS - Rick Nash. The torrid start continues. Again, the best player on the ice all night.
PLUS - Chris Kreider. The power play goal was nice, but the heads up pass to Klein for the game winner was a thing of beauty.
PLUS The power play scored twice!! Break up the Rangers power play!
MINUS - The Penalty Kill. All three Devils goals were Power Play goals, mostly because of.....
MINUS - The referees again made themselves more than needed. Sometimes, it's a good idea to call a lot of penalties to reign in aggressiveness. This was not the case. Phantom hooks both ways.
The Rangers are off now until Saturday night when they have their first rematch of the Eastern Conference Finals against Montreal in "le belle province" at 7:00 PM.
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