Devils Dominate Over Rangers, 5-0

Published: Monday, December 23, 2024

by Patrick Corsello

NEWARK, N.J. - It was a pre-Christmas Eve matinee, as the New Jersey Devils shut out the New York Rangers 5-0 at home. Jacob Markstrom recorded his third shutout of the year, and his second in a row. 

Not much action in the first few minutes until Vincent Trocheck and Paul Cotter dropped the gloves with 16:05 to go in period one. This ignited both teams; shortly after, Jack Hughes opened the scoring for the Devils, giving the home team a 1-0 lead.

Physicality quickly picked up from here, as New York’s Artemi Panarin and New Jersey’s Timo Meier went to the box, each receiving two minutes for roughing. New Jersey’s Stefan Noesen also went to the box for hooking, which gave the Rangers a power play.

With their ace on the powerplay being in the box (that being Panarin) and Chris Kreider a healthy scratch, New York was unable to capitalize, and the score stayed 1-0 in favor of the Devils.  

Other than Rangers forward Sam Carrick and Devils defenseman Brenden Dillon dropping the gloves with 51.4 remaining in the period, there was not much more activity in the first. The teams would head to the locker room with NJD leading 1-0.

As the second period started, Dawson Mercer took a cross-checking penalty only 25 seconds in, and the Rangers were back on the power play.

Despite a few good chances, NYR was unable to put one in the net on the PP. Almost immediately after, the Devils would go on their own powerplay, with Brett Berard going to the box for a bench minor on New York.  
After a nice backhand pass across by Mercer, Meier scored on a one timer, as this power play goal gave NJD a 2-0 lead.

A few more penalties came, as the Rangers went back on the powerplay when two Devils went to the box (Siegenthaler for cross checking and Kovacevic for roughing), as well as Alexis Lafreniere (two minutes for slashing).

The Devils would attempt to kill another penalty as New York went on their third powerplay of the game. The Rangers were once again unable to get anything done failing to score.

But this wasn’t it for the penalties, as coincidental minors were assessed just before the 10-minute mark of the period. Brett Berard went to the box again this time for hooking and Dougie Hamilton for unsportsmanlike conduct. The teams played four aside for about a minute before NYR took their second bench minor of the game. Quite a flurry of penalties as the second half of the period got underway.

The sides played four-on-three, and Jack Hughes scored for the second time, potting one from inside the left circle.  

The penalties just kept coming, as now the Devils took a bench minor penalty, making it the third between the two teams in this game.  It was a chance for the Rangers to get back in this one. Yet they once again could not connect; from there, the period ended 3-0 in favor of New Jersey. 

As the third period got going, the Rangers had to move quickly if they wanted to have a chance in this game. Unfortunately for the road team, Noesen scored his 16th goal of the season, and the Devils extended their lead to 4-0. 

NJD went on another powerplay as Alexis Lafreniere went off for slashing. Mercer scored and gave the Devils a 5-0 lead closing it out. 

The Devils will have a short Christmas break before playing a home and home with the Carolina Hurricanes on Friday and Saturday. 

Patrick Corsello is an Assistant Music Director and can be reached at patrick.corsello@student.shu.edu. 

 

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