Devils Find First Preseason Win Against Rangers, 3-1

Published: Tuesday, October 1, 2024

by Patrick Corsello

The Devils faced off against their archrival, the New York Rangers, Monday night in the first of a preseason home-and-home between the two clubs. “Rangers vs Devils” is always a big game no matter what time of year these teams face off. The important aspect to this matchup in particular was that it was their first matchup of this premature 2024-25 NHL season.

The game was back and forth for the first ten minutes or so, until the Devils broke through courtesy of a breakaway goal by Brian Halonen. Halonen, a player who is looking to make this Devils roster, signed a two-year two-way deal with New Jersey this past off-season.  

But that wasn’t all for the Devils in period one. Nathan Légaré scored another goal for the Devils as the Rangers let up another breakaway in their own end. Rangers’ goaltender Jonathan Quick had no chance, as Légaré put the dangles on him by squeaking one in beyond the left pad of Quick.  
That would do it for the first period, as the Rangers had a power play at the end, but could not convert. The Devils headed into period two with a 2-0 lead and looked to build on that after the goals from Halonen and Légaré.  

Yet it was a rough start in this period for the Devils, as goal scorer Brian Halonen took a penalty early that gave the Rangers a power play. Fortunately for NJ, they were able to kill the penalty and maintain their 2-0 lead. This period ended with no goals for either side as the Devils carried their 2-0 lead once again into the third period.

The Devils stayed in control of the goalscoring, as they opened the third with a goal from Kevin Labanc on the power play. This was the first power-play goal of the game for the Devils. With a little less than two minutes left in the period, the Rangers were able to get some points on the board with a goal from Anton Blidh, but this was about the only action in the third; neither team mustered up much offense besides the goals.

The Devils ended up winning this one by a score of 3-1, but this is a preseason game, and the outcome has no effect on the standings of the upcoming season. However, for both teams, it is important to get players some ice time that normally wouldn't get as much in the regular season.  

None of the big guns were on the ice for either team in this game, with Hischier, Hughes, Bratt, and Meier out for the Devils, and Panarin, Kreider, Zibanejad, and Fox out for the Rangers. Brennan Othmann of the Rangers had quite a lot of ice time, who is expected to make the team and be a rookie to watch out for, both for the Devils and all teams in the Metro division.  

These teams will clash again this Tuesday night in the back half of this preseason home and home, this time at Madison Square Garden. 

Patrick Corsello can be reached at patrick.corsello@student.shu.edu

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