Rangers and New Jersey Devils Renew the Hudson River Rivalry

Rangers	NHL Rankings	Devils
8-3-3	Record	7-4-2
12^th	NHL Standing Rank	20^th
24^th	GF/PG	16^th
14^th	GA/PG	13^th
12^th	PP%	26^th
21^st	PK%	25^th

Previous Game

This season has been about goaltender Igor Shesterkin bailing out the Blueshirts, but in this game, the roles were finally reversed. Shesterkin wasn’t exactly bailed out as he had a solid game. However, with the game tied 1-1, the 25-year-old gave up a goal he probably wants back to Columbus forward Eric Robinson. With the Rangers now trailing 2-1, the Rangers had the goaltender’s back and scored three goals in a span of just 65 seconds. A 2-1 deficit turned into a 4-2 lead within the span of 106 seconds.

With the game winding down, Shesterkin was forced to leave the game due to the concussion spotter calling down to the Rangers bench and telling the Russian netminder he must get checked out. Defender Patrik Nemeth pushed Blue Jackets forward Alex Texier into Shesterkin on the Blue Jackets’ third goal. Ultimately, Alex Georgiev played the final six minutes and change and only was forced into two saves. Once again, the team had the goaltenders back and didn’t make him face any tough shots. After the game, head coach Gerard Gallant told the media that Shesterkin was fine and that he wanted to remain in the game. He also stated Shesterkin isn’t expected to miss any time.

Rangers

The Blueshirts will return home and get ready for the second leg of a back-to-back as they welcome the New Jersey Devils across the Hudson. The Rangers will enter this game feeling confident and good about their game given their last two games. In addition, they are facing an opponent with who they have a six-game winning streak. New Jersey won the first two meetings last season, but the Rangers won the remaining six games and managed to outscore the Devils 32-10 in those six games.

Looking to stay hot will be Chris Kreider who is tied for third in the NHL in goals scored. Kreider currently has eleven goals on the season and trails just Leon Drasaitl and Alex Ovechkin. Kreider scored eight points in eight games against the Devils last season including a hat trick in New Jersey.

Artemi Panarin had his best game of the season on Saturday night scoring two goals Panarin had his most effective game of the season against his former team and he will look to continue to build momentum as he faces a team, he has had a lot of success against. In five games last season, Panarin recorded twelve points.

Georgiev is expected to get the start as Shesterkin played Saturday night. Should Georgiev get the start, it would be his first home start of the season.

Filip Chytil still hasn’t practiced and remains day-to-day. He likely won’t be available for the Rangers until one of the midweek games.

New Jersey Devils

While the Rangers may be feeling confident with their play and coming up against an opponent, they’ve had success against, the Devils are not the same team as last year. The Devils have a lot of young players and first-round picks who are currently in their lineup. Dawson Mercer and Alexander Holtz were first-round picks in the 2020 draft and are already playing in the NHL. Mercer has ten points on the season and is second on the team in scoring.

The big signing the Devils had in the offseason was the signing of free-agent defender Dougie Hamilton. Hamilton was signed to a seven-year contract worth nine million a season. The 28-year-old has eight points in ten games.

New Jersey continued to improve their defensive core by trading for Ryan Graves. Graves finally broke out in Colorado after struggling in the Rangers organization.

Jack Hughes and Miles Wood are out of their lineup with injuries and won’t be available. The two are currently out of the lineup with a shoulder and hip injury.

The Devils also are playing in the second leg of a back-to-back having suffered a defeat to the Boston Bruins on Saturday afternoon. MacKenzie Blackwood will likely draw the start for the Devils. Jonathan Bernier has got the majority of games this year, especially with Blackwood missing a period of time.

What to Watch

My what to watch for moment will be Ryan Reaves and P.K. Subban. In the preseason, Subban slew-footed Reaves which hurt the Blueshirts winger and left his status uncertain for the season. Reaves was asked if the slew foot was clean after the game and if the hit was clean. Reaves replied, “Not really, no. But I guess the league did. So, we move on. We play them a lot.” Ending the statement with “we play them a lot” leads fans to believe that there could be fireworks. It will be vital that Reaves doesn’t get suckered into a stupid penalty.