The New York Rangers controlled the game from the onset as they took a 1-0 series lead in their best-of-seven series with a 5-1 victory over the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday night.
New York Rangers defenseman Adam Fox had four assists, and Chris Kreider scored two power-play goals to lead the Blueshirts to a 5-1 Game 1 victory over the New Jersey Devils Tuesday night at the Prudential Center.
Vladamir Tarasenko, Ryan Lindgren, and Filip Chytils (empty net) also found the back of the net in the first playoff series against the Devils in 12 years.
Igor Shesterkin made 27 saves in the game. The lone goal he surrendered was to Jack Hughes, who scored his first career playoff goal on a third-period penalty shot.
The win was Shesterkin’s 11th career playoff win, as he allowed one or fewer goals in a
playoff game for the fourth time.
Tarasenko gave the Rangers a 1-0 lead 4:58 into the first stanza. It was his 42nd career playoff goal and first playoff goal as a Ranger.
All-Time Playoff Goal Leader
Chris Kreider became the Ranger’s all-time leader in playoff goals with the 35th of
his career and with his two power-play goals surpassed Adam Graves for the most in
Rangers playoff history (14).
Head coach Gerard Gallant was able to roll four lines for most of the game. The team forechecking against New Jersey was something the coach spoke about during his postgame comments.
“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.”
The Rangers won the specialty team battle by scoring two power-play goals and did not allow the Devils t A power-play shot with their team going 0-4 with the man advantage.
Game 2 will be played at the Prudential Center on Thursday night at 7:30 pm.
Madison Square Garden will host games 3 and 4 on Saturday and Monday nights. Saturday’s game will be nationally televised on ABC with an 8:00 pm start.