After taking an early lead, the Devils allowed the visiting New York Rangers to score two goals in the third period to take a 2-1 victory. The Hudson River rivals split their preseason series with each club taking home one road win and one home loss.
"(The Rangers) came with a lot of pressure and we didn't handle the pressure very well," Devils head coach Lindy Ruff said postgame. "I think some of our puck play, we didn't hang on to enough pucks. We spent too much time playing in our own end. It was a hard compete, they were on top of us, they won more battles. I thought it was a great game to look at battles and board play and if you're under pressure like that, can you make the plays?"
The Rangers pushed the pace in the first period, where they outshot the Devils 17-4. Mackenzie Blackwood came up strong for the Devils, not allowing a single shot in keeping the score locked at 0. Joseph Gambardella was sent to the box for hooking with 25 seconds left in the opening frame; however, the Devils were able to kill off the penalty.
Jack Hughes opened the scoring 2:21 into the second period with a shot from the top of the right face-off circle. Ondrej Palat picked up the assist, his second of the preseason. Hughes had several more close chances in the second period, but was unable to convert.
"It feels like we created a lot of chances out there," Alexander Holtz said on his line with Hughes and Palat. "(Hughes) is speedy, he's a fantastic player, very creative."
The Devils were only slightly outshot in the middle frame, with the visitors recording 11 shots on goal while the home team had 10. Another positive, New Jersey killed off both penalties in the second period, a big improvement as the Devils continue to work on finding out who will be on the PK during the regular season.
Artemi Panarin tied things up in the first five minutes of the third period, sneaking one past Blackwood on his blocker side. Braden Schneider and Vitali Kravtsov picked up assists on the goal. K'Andre Miller gave the Rangers a 2-1 lead with 11:46 played in the third period. Dryden Hunt and Gustave Rydahl were credited with assists.
The Devils first power play of the game was with 2:02 remaining in the third period; however, New Jersey was unable to convert and as time expired, the Rangers would pick up their second win of the preseason.
Devils Come Up Short Against the Rangers | GAME STORY
After taking a 1-0 lead, the Rangers scored two unanswered goals to split the preseason series.
