The Rangers have no answers for their dismal 5-1 loss to the Devils

The New York Rangers’ good feelings after ending their five-game losing streak with a win over the Montreal Canadiens over the weekend were quickly dashed on Monday. In fact, they had no answer for the New Jersey Devils’ 5-1 loss at Madison Square Garden.

The Rangers (13-10-1) weren’t great in Saturday’s 5-on-5 win over the Canadiens. But they scored three power play goals and eked out a 4-3 win, their first in six games. But on Monday, they didn’t play the Canadiens, who were ranked No. 30 overall — and the Devils made sure the Rangers were aware of that fact.

The Devils (17-9-2) overtook the Rangers early – sound familiar? – and never really had to sweat the outcome. New Jersey was far better 5-on-5 and scored two power play goals to move into first place in the Metropolitan Division. The Devils are nine points ahead of the Rangers despite having already played four games more.

Jack Hughes scored two goals and had an assist for the Devils, and Jesper Bratt had a four-point game (one goal, three assists). Dougie Hamilton had a goal and an assist and Dawson Mercer also scored. Goaltender Jacob Markstrom finished the game with 39 saves.

Chris Kreider scored New York’s only goal on a power play in the second period. Igor Shesterkin allowed at least five goals for the fourth time this season. He made 22 saves and lost his fifth straight decision and seventh time in his last nine starts since November 7th.

“Right now we’re looking for other ways to lose games instead of ways to win,” Kreider said after the game.

Related: Brett Berard is out against the Devils with an upper-body injury

New Jersey Devils 5 – New York Rangers 1

It was another miserable start for the Rangers, who allowed a goal after just 87 seconds and trailed 2-0 at the 7:10 mark of the first period. And at halftime of the opening period it could easily have been 4-0.

Bratt scored on the rush, a 2-on-1 play on the left wing, beat Shesterkin with a quick shot and gave the Devils a 1-0 lead before the Blueshirts faithful had time to settle into their seats. But that’s nothing new. This was a repeat of so many games last month where Rangers chased things down after conceding an early goal before they could even get close to gaining a foothold. They have lost 10 of their last 18 games.

Mercer doubled New Jersey’s lead to 7:10 when he drifted from left to right through the slot and buried a shot against the grain under Shesterkin’s right ball for his sixth goal of the season to make it 2-0.

Thirty-nine seconds later, Shesterkin made a huge save with the left pad to stop Jack Hughes on a clean breakaway. Less than three minutes later, Bratt missed a shorthanded breakaway on a backhand attempt during a Rangers power play.

It wasn’t nice at all for the home team.

On the same power play, New York’s first of the game, New Jersey blocked three shots in a wild sequence in front of Markstrom. Brett Pesce had the first block off his ankle and later made another one despite being hampered by the first one. Erik Haula also threw himself in front of a Rangers shot.

A few minutes later the Devils narrowly failed again to make it 3-0. This time, Mercer fired a close shot off the post during a scramble in front of Shesterkin at 14:55. The Rangers nearly halved their deficit at 17:47 when K’Andre Miller fired a shot through an Adam Edstrom screen and past the post.

The Rangers were lucky to only be down 2-0 at the first intermission, and they were even luckier early in the second period when Shesterkin quickly scored on a shot from Timo Meier at 1:40 and a rebound attempt from Ondrej Palat with his The right ball parried hit the top of the crossbar after 2:25.

Markstrom made two sharp saves against Vincent Trocheck seconds apart during a Rangers power play about 4 1/2 minutes into the game. Three minutes later, Bratt hit the post with a power play shot and 10 seconds later Kreider fanned out with a 2-on-0 shorthand break.

The Devils finally extended their lead at 9:04 when Hamilton hit a one-timer past Shesterkin and scored a 5-on-3 power play goal. Then Jack Hughes got past Sam Carrick and converted a rebound to make it 4-0 for the Devils (12:38).

Less than a minute later, Kreider scored his 10th goal, fourth on the power play, at 13:29, putting the Rangers on the board.

But the Rangers couldn’t get any closer and the Devils scored another goal on the power play before the end of the period to take a 5-1 lead. Jack Hughes fired a shot through a Nico Hischier screen for a 4-on-3 power play goal at 18:56.

The Rangers outscored the Devils 10-2 in a scoreless third period but never really posed a threat.

“Things haven’t been going our way lately,” Rangers captain Jacob Trouba said. “It’s not a fun time at the moment – but like I said, teams are being built here. You have to find your way through adversity to get to the good things.”

The Rangers have three days to find answers before their next game on Friday at home against Sidney Crosby and the struggling Pittsburgh Penguins.

“To get out of this, we have to play a type of hockey that leaves no doubt,” summarized Kreider.

Jim Cerny is Executive Editor at Forever Blueshirts and Managing Editor at Sportsnaut, with more than 30 years of experience… More about Jim Cerny

Mentioned in this article: Chris Kreider Game Recap Igor Shesterkin New Jersey Devils

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