The New York Rangers looked different on Saturday, and even though they made it tough on themselves in the third period, they ended their five-game losing streak with a big win.
After a tough season and their first win in 11 days, the Rangers hope to start a winning streak on Monday when they play against the New Jersey Devils.
During their five-game losing streak, which was their first since the end of the 2020-21 season, the Rangers were outscored 21-10. This stretch was marked by few power plays, slow starts, and a lack of physical play.
In their 4-3 win over the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday, the Rangers started a five-game homestand and matched a season-high with three power-play goals, including the game-winner by Kaapo Kakko with 24 seconds left on a four-minute man advantage. New York also led after the first period for the first time since November 9 in Detroit. They had 17 penalty minutes in the game, their second-most this season.
The penalty minutes showed a different attitude from the Rangers, as struggling defenseman Jacob Trouba fought Josh Anderson 1:58 into the game, and there was a big fight late in the second period.
Artemi Panarin scored a power-play goal in the first period and assisted Mika Zibanejad’s goal late in the second period.
“Sometimes when you’re trying to get out of something, that first one you get out of might not be the prettiest, and it wasn’t,” Rangers coach Peter Laviolette said.
“But we’ve got to draw on the positives of what we were able to do from the physicality and the start, the fact that we kicked it up, and we came back and won it. The specialty teams factor into it. I think you just pull all those things out of it and you continue to work your way out.”
The Devils had a one-point lead over the Rangers after New York’s 4-3 win in Vancouver on November 19. Now, the Devils are ahead by seven points, though they’ve played four more games.
New Jersey has gone 11-5-0 in the 16 games since they lost four straight from October 19-25. During that stretch, the Devils were shut out four times and played five one-goal games.
Recently, New Jersey played two high-scoring, one-goal games against the Detroit Red Wings and Washington Capitals. After a 5-4 win in Detroit on Friday, the Devils lost 6-5 to the Capitals on Saturday. They gave up a season-high three power-play goals in the last 10 minutes of the second period.
The Devils allowed four power-play goals on nine chances over the two games, and opponents have scored 7 goals on 24 chances in their past seven games. The struggles against the Capitals happened before Stefan Noesen scored two power-play goals in the third period.
Nico Hischier and Justin Dowling scored, and Jesper Bratt added a tying goal before the Devils gave up two goals in 10 seconds, losing the lead.
“We take a lot of pride in our penalty kill and tonight it arguably cost us the game,” Brett Pesce said. “So, just learn from it and we’ve got a big (game) Monday. And hopefully we can bounce back.”
The Rangers outscored the Devils 17-8 in all four meetings last season. The last game on April 3 saw a combined 166 penalty minutes after a line brawl just two seconds into the game.
