Battle of the Hudson - I
TUESDAY
Devils 4
Rangers 3
FINAL
The Rangers commit one of the cardinal sins of hockey: allowing a goal inside the first two minutes or the last two minutes of a period. Entering his fifteenth year with the Devils, Travis Zajac does just that, scores within the first 32-seconds of the game. Thus, the Rangers play from behind all night.
At practice, Coach Quinn implored his team to take more shots. That translated into fifty shots on goal against the Devils. The problem is Mackenzie Blackwood stopped 47 of them. New Jersey's goalie stopped 33/34 shots at even strength, and 14/16 on the penalty kill. Said another way, the Rangers averaged 2.6 shots per power play, but cashed in twice, first by Chris Kreider early in the second, then midway through the period by Mika Zebanejad. Filip Chytil scored the Rangers' lone even-strength goal seven minutes into the third.
There's still no getting around the fact Blackwood and (centerman) Jack Hughes were for all intent and purpose the best two players on the ice. Hughes, the Devils 2019 number one overall draft pick scored two goals within five minutes of each other in a back and forth second period and later assisted on another.
Alexandar Georgiev made his second straight start. However, this one didn't go as well as his first. Georgiev faced just twenty shots, stopping only sixteen, all at even strength. Coach Quinn relieved him with Igor Shesterkin for the third period. Meanwhile, the Rangers afford the Devils just two power-play opportunities.
gee I wish the #NYR had drafted a center ... just saying.
— B'klynTrolleyBlogger (@BTB_MikeII) January 20, 2021
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