GAME STORY: Rangers 6, Devils 1

NEWARK, NJ - The Devils scored first and outshot the New York Rangers 36-19 but four Rangers third-period goals including a Chris Kreider natural hat trick was the difference in a 6-1 loss on Thursday night.

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The Devils were strong out of the gate. Jack Hughes rifled a shot off the post less than 90 seconds into the game. Then eight minutes into the opening frame, a stretch pass by Sami Vatanen went off the end boards and took a wild hop in front of the net where Jack Hughes was ready to pounce on the puck and put it blocker side past Rangers netminder Igor Shesterkin.
With 6:35 to go in the first, Yegor Sharangovich fired a rolling puck off the rush but Shesterkin made a nice glove save.
The first power play of the game went to the Devils after Filip Chytil received two minutes for interference 15:30 into the period.
The Rangers killed off the penalty but Devils used the momentum from the man advantage to continue to put pressure on right through to the end of the period.
After one, shots on goal were 14-6 for the Devils.
Nearly eight minutes into the middle frame, the Devils had the only three shots on goal in the period.
Kyle Palmieri was sent off for two minutes with 12:08 left in the second, giving the Rangers their first power play of the game.
Just 36 seconds into the power play, Chris Kreider took a nice cross-ice pass from Ryan Strome and tapped it in past Mackenzie Blackwood to tie the game.
"They got one and it just seemed like we strayed from our game a little bit. Instead of what was working in the first period and up until then, we got away from it for a bit. You've got to stick with it and just battle through it," said Travis Zajac.
Five minutes later, Ryan Lindgren teed up a rolling puck from the left point that was redirected by Kreider before it beat Blackwood, putting the Rangers in front 2-1.
"We should have walked out of the first period with two or three and we didn't. Our puck management wasn't good and it hurt us," said Devils head coach Lindy Ruff.
Some good work in front of the net by Yegor Sharangovich drew a penalty as Libor Hajek was sent off for two minutes but Rangers were able to kill it off.
Shots in the second were 9-6 for the Devils; 23-12 New Jersey in the game overall but Rangers were up 2-1.
Kreider completed the natural hat trick 23 seconds into the period. His shot from the high slot beat Blackwood high to make it a two-goal gap. On the very next shift, Jack Hughes was denied on a breakaway.
"I think a lot of it's mental," noted Ruff. "When they made it 3-1 and Jack walked in all alone on a breakaway, that would have been a big momentum shift."
Just over three minutes later, Pavel Buchnevich one-timed a blast in the slot past Blackwood to extend the Rangers lead to 4-1.
"We're a young team who couldn't quite stay with it. We started to get on the wrong side of the puck," he said.
After the goal, Aaron Dell replaced Blackwood between the pipes for New Jersey.
Devils had a couple of power play chances in the latter half of the third but could not convert.
Sliding across to make a save on Severson on a shorthanded two-on-one, Shesterkin went down in pain. He had to be helped off the ice and was replaced in goal by Alexandar Georgiev.
With 4:35 to go in the game, Brendan Smith pinched in to the left face-off circle to one-time a rebound past Dell, making it 5-1.
Alexis Lafereniere extended the Rangers lead to 6-1 with 1:33 to play in the game. He wristed a shot from the left circle up over Dell's shoulder.