Rangers Travel Across the Hudson for a Key game with Devils

After a comfortable victory in Montreal, the Blueshirts returned to the New York area to take on their local rivals in an afternoon divisional showdown (1:00 P.M. on MSG)

Rangers	NHL Rankings	Devils
22-12-6	Record	24-12-3
10^th	NHL Standing Rank	7^th
13^th	GF/PG	7^th
6^th	GA/PG	3^rd
11^th	PP%	22^nd
12^th	PK%	8^th

Previous Game

The Blueshirts are coming off a big three-goal second period to defeat the Montreal Canadiens by the score of 4-1. After uneventful first period, the Blueshirts exploded for three goals in under six-minutes to blow the game wide open. The Rangers got goals from Flip Chytil, Braden Schneider, and Chris Kreider. Kreider opened the score with a short-handed goal. Chytil would get his second of the game on an empty net power-play goal late in the third. Jaroslav Halak got the start and he had one of his best outings as a Ranger. Halak didn’t see many shots as he only faced 18, but the veteran netminder looked calm and composed for the entire contest.

Rangers vs Devils

The Rangers will now face the Devils in an important divisional game. The last time the two teams met, New York was victorious 4-3 in overtime. The Rangers started this season not playing their best hockey whereas the Devils were the surprise team of the league. However, things in this season took a turn and now both teams are slowly trending in the opposite directions. In the last 14 games, the Devils have a record of just 3-8-2 whereas the Rangers hold a record of 11-2-1 in their last 14 games.

Saturday afternoon’s game will be an important one for both teams as the Rangers look to overtake the Devils for second in the division. With the New Jersey getting off to a scorching hot start, it didn’t look possible that the Rangers could even catch the Devils, but now as the Rangers reach the half-way point, they’ll have a prime opportunity to overtake New Jersey.

“You can’t worry about divisional games,” said Rangers head coach Gerard Gallant. “You’ve got to worry about your own team and just try to get two points.”

One big addition for the Devils was the recent return of Ondej Palat. Palat played just six games with the Devils before undergoing groin surgery in late October. Palat signed a five-year contract with New Jersey in the offseason after Tampa Bay could no longer afford his services. The two-time Stanley Cup winner has three goals this season.

Igor Shesterkin is slated to start in goal for the Rangers after being rested in Montreal. Shesterkin has struggled in recent games against New Jersey since the start of the 2021-2022 season. Shesterkin has a 2-2-0 record with just an .894 save percentage. The last time Shesterkin played in New Jersey, the Russian netminder allowed five goals on 24 shots and was replaced by then Rangers’ goaltender Alex Georgiev.

The Blueshirts enter this game on a three-game win streak and have scored at least four goals in each game. New York has a divisional record of 5-6-0 while New Jersey has a record of 6-5-2.

Kreider leads the Blueshirts in scoring against New Jersey since the start of last season. Kreider has four goals and four assists in six-games against the Devils. The 31-year-old is on a five-game point streak against New Jersey.

What to Watch

The Blueshirts and Devils have had two high scoring games this season. Both games were at Madison Square Garden which meant that Gallant had the last change. This time around, Devils head coach Lindy Ruff will have the last change and get to dictate the matchups. It will be interesting if Ruff’s matchups will lead to another high scoring game between the two sides.