Rangers topple skidding Devils

NEWARK, N.J. — Ryan Strome scored twice and the streaking New York Rangers beat the Devils 6-3 Saturday, sending New Jersey to its fifth straight loss and eighth in nine games.

Adam Fox, Kevin Rooney, Libor Hajek and Filip Chytil also scored as the Rangers won their seasonhigh third straight and sixth in eight games.

“If you’re going to have a chance, you’ve got to string together wins,” coach David Quinn said. “You got to go on some sort of streak and some sort of run. We really hadn’t done that up to this point. We’re creeping up on the halfway point of the season so our guys realize what’s in front of us. They realize that with each passing day, you want to continue to gain momentum and continue to move forward.”

Alexandar Georgiev had 24 saves while filling in for the injured Igor Shesterkin, who sustained a groin injury in a 6-1 win over New Jersey Thursday night.

P.K. Subban and Mikhail Maltsev scored in a 17second first-period span to give the slumping Devils some hope after falling behind 2-0.

The hope lasted less than two minutes. Rooney, a former Devil who signed with New York this season, capped a 2-on-1 with Chytil flipping a cross-ice pass over Mackenzie Blackwood for a 3-2 lead.

Hajek stretched the lead to two goals 65 seconds in the second period with a short that deflected off Devils forward Janne Kuokkanen. It was his first point of the season and first goal since getting his first in the NHL against New Jersey on Mar. 9, 2019.

Chytil scored in close in the third period as the Rangers scored 12 goals in sweeping the two games against their Hudson River rivals.

Nathan Bastian closed the gap to 5-3, but Strome iced the game with an empty net goal.

“If we’re going to play like that, we’re going to lose, we’ll lose every night,” Devils coach Lindy Ruff said. “Our puck play wasn’t good, our attention to detail

Email: wasn’t good enough. We had some 50-50 battles that I you know I believe that we could have won, that we didn’t. The desperation I think along the walls to compete, no situation, was good enough.”

What’s impressive about the Rangers’ current run is they are winning with top forward Artemi Panarin (personal leave) and top defenseman Jacob Trouba (broken thumb) sidelined, and Chytil just returning to the lineup.

Strome said the Rangers have worked hard all season but could not string together wins.

“I think lately we’re finding a way,” he said. “I don’t think the last two wins were pretty. But today was a pretty solid effort. I think all around we got to be pretty pleased with, the contributions of everyone. Just a solid game.”

ISLANDERS 5, SABRES 2

UNIONDALE, N.Y. — Mathew Barzal and Scott Mayfield each had a goal and an assist and New York beat Buffalo for its fourth straight victory.

Semyon Varlamov made 20 saves as the Islanders improved to 9-0-2 at Nassau Coliseum this season and 14-6-4 overall. Cal Clutterbuck, Brock Nelson and Anders Lee also scored.

New York beat Buffalo for the fifth straight time this season, outscoring the Islanders 19-7 in those five meetings. The teams meet again Sunday for their third game in four days in the same venue.

Buffalo dropped its sixth straight game. Sam Reinhart and Jacob Bryson scored for the Sabres, and Carter Hutton made 24 saves.

Bryson put Buffalo in front when he scored his first career goal 33 seconds into his sixth game. The 23-year-old defenseman was selected by the Sabres in the fourth round of the 2017 draft.

Barzal has three goals and four assists in the last six games. He leads the Islanders with 22 points.

“Barzy scoring that goal the way he did, that lit a little bit of a fire for us,” Lee said. “We had a flurry after that and kept it going.”

SEAN BARKER, SPORTS EDITOR

Email: sean.barker@hearstmediact.com

Phone: 203-789-5700

Jeff Jacobs, Columnist: jeff.jacobs@hearstmediact.com

Mike Blais, Assistant Sports Editor: michael.blais@hearstmediact.com

Paul Doyle, Deputy Sports Editor: paul.doyle@hearstmediact.com

Chris McNamee, Deputy Sports Editor: cmcnamee@hearstmediact.com

David Borges, UConn men: david.borges@hearstmediact.com

Doug Bonjour, UConn women: dbonjour@ctpost.com

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