Power Play Continues to Click, Devils Beat Rangers 5-2 | GAME STORY

NEWARK, NJ - The New Jersey Devils finished up the home portion of their preseason games on Wednesday night against their fiercest rival, the New York Rangers.

The Devils opened up a 2-0 lead before the halfway mark of the first period on goals by Jesper Bratt and Luke Hughes. New Jersey was icing nearly their entire NHL lineup for the first time this preseason and the Rangers was also close to their full roster. The Devils delivered the victory 5-2 in front of the home crowd.

It was a good first test for the roster as a whole and the Devils certainly passed it. It was the Devils who capitalized on their chances tonight, scoring two power play goals on Rangers goaltender Jonathan Quick. Dawson Mercer and Jack Hughes each scored in the second period, and Nico Hischier scored in the empty net to round out the scoring.

Adding five more goals tonight to their preseason tally, the Devils have scored 27 goals in six games, with one more to go.

Of all the goals being scored his off-season, Vitek Vanecek has had a front row seat in some of the games on teh ice, and his teammates have been impressive. 

"You know, it's nasty," he said of the offense generated, "It's crazy what they're doing."

Will Cuylle and Adam Fox scored for the Rangers.

Here are some observations from the game:

• Vitek Vanecek played his second full 60-minute game tonight, giving the Devils a strong effort, despite seeing very little action in the first and second periods. 

I think the part of the game he really helped us was when we were breaking out. They were dumping pucks in, he was making the right play getting it to the D and we broke out of our zone relatively easy at times. And I think a lot of times if (Vanecek) can bait the first forechecker, you've automatically got them outnumbered. I thought that part of our game was good.

• The Devils built themselves a 2-0 lead by the 7:43 mark of the first period, with four shots on goal. The two goals came on the Devils opening three shots of the period, while the Rangers were held to just a single shot in the time it took for New Jersey to build their 2-0 lead. After 20 minutes, the Devils maintained their 2-0 lead and held the Rangers to just three shots on net in the period.

• This morning Lindy Ruff called his two power-play units 1a and 1b, given the amount of depth and offensive threat each possesses. The first group to get a chance tonight against the Rangers was that of Jack Hughes, with Jesper Bratt, Tyler Toffoli, Ondrej Palat, and Luke Hughes. It didn't take them very long to get the job done, with Bratt wiring a shot in the slot, past Jonathan Quick just 10 seconds into the man advantage.

• Bratt's power play goal brought the team's man-advantage success in the preseason to 6-for-15. By games end, the man advantage had improved to 8-for-17. 
• Do the math and that's a power play clicking at 44 percent. The Oilers set the NHL record last season at 32.4 percent. 
• Ondrej Palat had a three-point night, all assists. The last time Palat had three assists (in the regular season) was back with Tampa Bay on April 29, 2022. 
• Call it nasty, call it disgusting, or filthy, all the words work to describe Jack Hughes's power play goal in the second period. He wired a shot directly up and over Quick's shoulder, capitalizing off a passing play with Tyler Toffoli who was standing on the goal line. I think Hughes was even impressed with himself of that one.

• The way Timo Meier helped create Dawson Mercer's second period goal is the exact type of strength and power that had been missing from the Devils lineup before his arrival. Meier went hard to the net but was taken out by Rangers Jacob Trouba. With Meier losing his footing, the puck popped out to Dawson Mercer who cleaned up for the Devils' third goal of the night. Here are Mercer's thoughts on the goal:

We're a fast team, and for him to be able to go to the net, for him he's a big body in our group. He really outmuscles a lot of guys. And as you can see on that (goal), just taking the puck to the net and I just wanted to make sure I got there as quick as possible, keep my stick down and I found the rebound.