New Haven Register (Sunday) (New Haven, CT)
Rangers prove to be too much
NEW YORK — Ryan Strome had two goals, Chris Kreider and Jimmy Vesey each had a goal and an assist, and the New York Rangers beat the New Jersey Devils 5-2 on Saturday.
Brady Skjei also scored. Mika Zibanejad and Pavel Buchnevich each had two assists and Alexandar Georgiev made 19 saves for the Rangers.
Andy Greene and Kenny Agostino scored and Cory Schneider had 29 saves for the Devils.
Both teams sat key players with the league’s trade deadline two days away. The Devils traded defenseman Ben Lovejoy to Dallas for defenseman Connor Carrick and a third-round pick earlier in the day and also kept out forward Marcus Johansson.
The Rangers sat forwards Mats Zuccarello and Kevin Hayes as well as defenseman Adam McQuaid.
Trailing 3-0 in the third period, the Devils scored when Agostino got his third of the season at 2:20. He took advantage of a turnover in the Rangers’ zone to score his first goal with the Devils.
The Rangers answered as defenseman Brady Skjei sent a one-timer past Schneider for his fourth of the season. The score withstood a video review for goalie interference.
The Devils rallied again as Greene took a pass from Kyle Palmieri and wristed it past Georgiev for his fourth of the season at 12:59.
Strome added an emptynetter in the final minute for his second of the game to clinch the win.
Early on, the Rangers dominated the matchup between the area rivals and playoff also-rans in the Eastern Conference. They opened the scoring with two goals early in the first period.
Vesey scored his 14th of the season off a scramble in front of the net at 4:48 just as a Devils penalty expired. A few minutes later and with a Devils power play about to end, Vladislav Namestnikov drew a tripping penalty on Drew Stafford to give the Rangers another man advantage. And they took advantage.
With the power play nearly over, Kreider sent a no-look pass to Strome, who scored his ninth of the season. Buchnevich assisted on both of the goals.
The Rangers kept up the pressure and made it 3-0. Kreider scored on another scramble in front of the Devils’ net for his 25th of the season. The Rangers outshot the Devils 15-4 in the period.
BLUES 2, BRUINS 1 (SO)
ST. LOUIS — Sammy Blais scored in the sixth round of the shootout to lift St. Louis Blues.
Alexander Steen scored in regulation for St. Louis, which had a franchiserecord 11-game winning streak snapped on Thursday in Dallas. Jordan Binnington stopped 31 shots through overtime and then five more in the shootout to improve to 14-2-1.
Chris Wagner scored for the Bruins, who had a seven-game win streak snapped but earned a point for the 13th consecutive game. Tuukka Rask made 28 saves.
Tyler Bozak also scored for St. Louis in the shootout, and Charlie Coyle had a goal for Boston.
Steen scored for the first time in 27 games to give St. Louis a lead in the first period lead. He whipped a wrist shot from the faceoff circle past Rask on the Blues first shot of the contest at 7:15.
Wagner tied it in the second by converting off a past from Kevan Miller.