The Rangers came out firing in this one, taking it to the Devils from start to finish in another big win. The Rangers dominated from puck drop, getting three quick goals while the Devils struggled to control the middle of the ice. With the big lead, the Devils seemed to unplug from the game. The Rangers got their fourth while most Devils just stood and watched. And Igor Shesterkin got his second straight shutout.
David Quinn started experimenting with lines in the third period, which was fine. Nothing wrong with tinkering and seeing what works when the game is out of reach. You never know when the situation comes up that the combos need to be changed up. An in-game injury would force that.
The Devils got their revenge though, taking Vitali Kravtsov’s first career goal away from him after a coaches challenge. The play was barely offside. It’s a bit of a bush league move by Lindy Ruff to challenge a kid’s first NHL goal in a blowout. Someone needs to cancel Ruff.
Rangers 1, Devils 0 – Fast start
Trouba opens the scoring early for the #NYR from Blackwell and Zibanejad. Panarin won't get an assist here, but nifty entry and patience here to make this all happen. pic.twitter.com/CV2bU4qWLJ
— Shayna (@hayyyshayyy) April 15, 2021
Artemi Panarin started this by drawing two Devils to him on the zone entry. That opened up space for the other Rangers to join him and generate some sustained offense.
Rangers 2, Devils 0 – Finally a goal for Lindgren
Ryan Lindgren scores his first goal in 97 games. Artemiy Panarin with the primary helper #NYR pic.twitter.com/xLjyEpssw1
— Shayna (@hayyyshayyy) April 15, 2021
This is just pretty passing all around. Colin Blackwell gets it to the corner, and then it’s a quick transition before Adam Fox finds Panarin in the slot. A little touch pass gave Ryan Lindgren all day, and he waited it out to use the defenseman as a screen.
Rangers 3, Devils 0 – Odd man rush
Another look at Panarin's skating on his scoring play #NYR pic.twitter.com/01s9Ic3YvJ
— Shayna (@hayyyshayyy) April 15, 2021
Look at the way Panarin stopped on the rush here. He let the back checker fly by him, and also opened a huge pass lane for Ryan Strome, as the one Devil back was too far back. This might be one of the best plays I’ve seen from Panarin.
Rangers 4, Devils 0 – Lazy Devils
Just tap it in. ???? pic.twitter.com/3eGWynszwq
— New York Rangers (@NYRangers) April 16, 2021
The Devils took this play off. No one wanted to get the puck off the side of the net, so Strome got there first and fed Panarin at the back door.
Shot Heatmap – Devils unplugged
The Devils unplugged in this one. We knew they were basically an AHL team heading into this, but now they just look uninspired. This looked a lot worse before the third period, which the Rangers basically took off. The Devils got nothing through the actual game, before the Rangers started toying around.
Skater Results – Good and fun
Good and fun explains how the Rangers looked tonight. Good because, well, they dominated. And fun because they were generating chances (and giving up some). This shifted a lot from the second to the third period when the Rangers basically coasted.
The Rangers needed all eight points, and they are halfway there. A second straight shutout for Igor Shesterkin was the icing on the cake here. It was good to see the Rangers truly dominate tonight. They get the Devils twice more, and have turned it on as of late. They are at least keeping pace with the Bruins. But now they might need some help.
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