Under the bright lights of Broadway, Cory Schneider did everything he could to give his New Jersey Devils squad a chance. After the Devils jumped out to a 2-0 lead, the Rangers went on to score four consecutive goals to down New Jersey 4-2.
Rangers rally by Devils, 4-2
Devils fall to Rangers Saturday night at Madison Square Garden
The Devils winless streak extends to six games.
Here are 10 takeaways from the game:
1. The call-ups from Binghamton continued on Saturday, with two more players joining the big club. Forwards Brandon Gignac and Eric Tangradi were both recalled prior to the game against the Rangers. They were called in as reinforcements to replace Stefan Noesen and John Quenneville, who both sustained injuries against the Capitals on Friday night.
2. For Gignac, this was the first NHL call-up of his career. He received the good news in a phone call from his head coach in Binghamton, Mark Dennehy. The call came in at midnight, just enough time to make sure his parents, Richard and Nancy, as well as his siblings, girlfriends and friends alike, could make the trip from Quebec down to New York to watch him hit this milestone moment in his career.
Gignac lined up alongside Blake Coleman and Drew Stafford on the Devils second line. On his very first shift, early in the first period, Gignac got a shot off on Henrik Lundqvist and proceeded to play 9:04 against the Rangers.
3. For Tangradi, when he stepped onto the ice for his first shift with the Devils against the Rangers, it was the first time he was playing in an NHL game since January 25, 2016, when he was a member of the Detroit Red Wings.
Suiting up for New Jersey, Tangradi was reunited with Michael McLeod as his center. The two have played alongside each other for much of the AHL season. Tangradi played 15:25 with three shots on goal and four hits.
4. Damon Severson has reached a new career high in goals after he sent a slapshot past Lundqvist at the 16:26 mark of the first period. His 10th goal of the season marks the new high for the 24-year-old defenseman and gave the Devils a 1-0 lead on the Rangers.
Tweet from @NJDevils: Severson from the point! pic.twitter.com/72f18Ux1j5
The assists on the play went to Kenny Agostino and Michael McLeod.
5. For McLeod, it was also a milestone moment, his assist on the goal marked his first career helper in the NHL after seven games with the Devils. Prior to being called up to New Jersey, McLeod was the second leading scorer in Binghamton (AHL) with 31 points in 52 games this season.
6. The drought is over on the Devils power play thanks to Blake Coleman. Coleman tipped in a Will Butcher shot from the blue line to extend the Devils lead to 2-0 on the power play. The goal ended a run of 0-for-25 on the power play over the last 10 games. The last time the Devils had scored a power play goal prior to Saturday night was February 17th against the Buffalo Sabres.
Tweet from @NJDevils: 🥒 with the redirect #NJDvsNYR pic.twitter.com/jllH2fC3Zl
7. For Coleman, not only did he snap the scoreless power play streak, it was a first goal since January 28th. The Plano, Texas native went 15 games without a goal. He adds a 19th to his total this season to extend his career high.
8. Travis Zajac and Will Butcher assisted Coleman's goal. For Zajac, the assist was his 500th NHL career point, making him just the fourth player in Devils franchise history to score 500 points with the club. Zajac has spent his entire career playing for New Jersey, suiting up in 909 regular season games with 182 goals and 318 assists over his 13 years.
Tweet from @NJDevils: Travis Zajac becomes the fourth player in #NJDevils franchise history to record 500 points. pic.twitter.com/QfLm51YYxC
He sits behind Kirk Mullers 520, John MacLean's 701 and Patrik Elias' 1025 as franchise point leaders.
9. The penalty killers were hard at work again for New Jersey. On Friday night against the Capitals the Devils were 4-for-5 on the penalty-kill, and 24 hours later the Devils penalty killers went 5-for-5. Once again, Andy Greene leads the way in shorthanded ice-time with 9:44 against the Rangers, one night after playing 6:29 shorthanded in Washington.
10. The Rangers hit the 30-shot mark before the Devils had a chance to reach 20, midway through the third period. Cory Schneider made some big-time saves to keep the Devils in the game when the Rangers outshot the Devils 14-2 in the second period. Schneider finished the night making 30 saves on 33 shots faced.
Devils forward Kyle Palmieri needs two points to reach 50 in a season for the third time in his career. He has 26 goals and 22 assists in 64 games.