N.J. Devils: Metropolitan Area Champs

From the desks of: 

THE BRICK CITY STYX  and  RAISE GRESCH WITH THE GREATS

BATTLE of the HUDSON

Devils win series 3-1

I - NJD 3; NYR 2

II - NYR 5; NJD 2

III  NJD 4; NYR 3

IV - NJD 5; NYR 2

FINAL

Rangers  2

Devils      5

Travis Zajak scored within 25 seconds of the opening face-off.  By the midway point of the first period the Devils had built a 3-0 lead.

With Tuesday's victory over the Rangers, the Devils now have a five point lead over the Florida Panthers.  They have two games remaining, but the Panthers have three.

The Devils also slipped by the Philadelphia Flyers to move into seventh place in the conference, and are just one point behind the sixth place Columbus Blue Jackets.

Add four more points to Taylor Hall's consecutive points streak.  He now has 17 points in his last nine games.  Hall put the Rangers down 0-2 just 3:41 into the first period with his 38th goal (power play) of the season.  He notched his second goal of the evening unassisted at the 15:45 mark of the second period.  Taylor also assisted on each of Will Butcher's two goals giving him 54 for the season; a new career high; to go along with his career best 39 goals and 93 points.

The Devils were 3 for 4 on the power play, elevating their unit to ninth in the league.  They also killed two penalties improving their rank to seventh in the league.

They peppered Henrik Lundqvist with 20 shots in the second period, and 44 shots overall.

Newark hosts Lou Lamoriello and the Toronto Maple Leafs Thursday night at the Rock, then close out the regular season on Saturday at Washington.

NEW JERSEY DEVILS

43-28-9 (93-points)

The Devils are this season's undisputed kings of the Metropolitan area.  They compiled a 6-2-0 record against their cross river rivals, defeating both the Rangers and Islanders each three games to one.