Fox's 4 assists help Rangers top Devils in Game 1 of Eastern 1st Round

NEWARK, N.J. -- Adam Fox had four assists, and the New York Rangers defeated the New Jersey Devils 5-1 in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference First Round at Prudential Center on Tuesday.

Fox became the second defenseman in NHL history with multiple four-assist games in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Hockey Hall of Fame member Paul Coffey did it four times.
"I'm just trying to move the puck to the right guys, and obviously it's nice to contribute like that," said Fox, who had four assists in a 5-3 win at the Pittsburgh Penguins in Game 6 of the first round last season.
Chris Kreider scored two power-play goals, Filip Chytil had a goal and an assist, and Artemi Panarin had two assists for the Rangers, the No. 3 seed in the Metropolitan Division. Igor Shesterkin made 27 saves.
Jack Hughes scored on a penalty shot, and Vitek Vanecek made 18 saves for the Devils, the No. 2 seed in the Metropolitan, who went 0-for-4 with no shots on goal on the power play.
"We've just got to put more pucks on the net (on the power play)," New Jersey captain Nico Hischier said. "They blocked a lot of shots (23), and I think Shesterkin made some huge saves. They could have gone in at some point, but we lost that game and now we look forward to the next game."
RELATED: [Complete Devils vs. Rangers series coverage]
Game 2 of the best-of-7 series will be here Thursday (7:30 p.m. ET; TBS, SN360, TVAS2, MSGSN, MSG).
"We talked about managing the puck, not getting turnovers and giving them odd-man rushes, and I thought we skated hard," New York coach Gerard Gallant said. "But the biggest thing for us is we forechecked well. We did a good job in their zone, and we didn't spend as much time in our zone."
Vladimir Tarasenko gave the Rangers a 1-0 lead at 4:58 of the first period when he swept a shot along the ice from the slot just inside the right post.

Kreider made it 2-0 at 9:30. After winning an offensive-zone face-off, Kreider skated to the right post before redirecting a shot-pass from the point by Fox.
Shesterkin denied Tomas Tatar on a wrist shot from the high slot at 8:10 of the second period and Hughes on a forehand attempt in the low slot at 12:33.
"I think the difference was we got a couple looks on our power play and they didn't," Kreider said. "I'm sure they'll go back and look at the film, try to dial some stuff up for their power play. For us, it's going to be about trying to stay out of the box and continue to be solid 5-on-5."
Ryan Lindgren pushed it to 3-0 at 16:57 from the left side when he scored with a high wrist shot at the near post.
Kreider made it 4-0 at 11:07 of the third period with his second goal, a tip-in at the left post. That moved him into first place in Rangers history with 36 playoff goals (Rod Gilbert, 34) and 14 playoff power-play goals (Adam Graves, 13).
"It speaks to his ability to perform at this time of the year," Fox said of Kreider. "He's played in some big games and he's scored some big goals. It's obviously a huge honor for him, especially the history of the team. That's what he does, he puts the puck in the back of the net and has a knack around the crease."

Hughes was hooked from behind on a breakaway attempt by Jacob Trouba at 17:14 and scored on the ensuing penalty shot to cut it to 4-1.
"We'll chalk that one up as it's not the way you wanted to start playoffs, but I think we've got a lot of young guys, a lot of jitters," Devils defenseman Ryan Graves said. "So, definitely tough, but you learn from it and improve on it and find ways to kill momentum and try to tilt the ice the other direction."
Chytil scored into an empty net at 18:02 for the 5-1 final.
"I thought we were smart with the puck," Fox said. "We capitalized on special teams, that's a big part of it. They're going to get their chances too, and we need some big saves when they do, and we got them.
"If we play like this, we're going to have success."
NOTES: Hughes became the first player in NHL history to score his first playoff goal on a penalty shot in his postseason debut. It was the first playoff penalty-shot goal in Devils/Colorado Rockies/Kansas City Scouts history. ... Hischier had a game-high five shots on goal in 21:21. ... Fox had a game-high four blocked shots in 20:17 of ice time.