Mats gets breather in Newark

Mats Zuccarello likely wasn’t the only Ranger suffering from what coach Alain Vigneault called “overall body soreness,” yet the spark plug winger was the only one who got the night off Tuesday as his Rangers beat the Devils 42 at the Prudential Center and wrapped up the franchise’s first Presidents’ Trophy since 1994.

Zuccarello was replaced by James Sheppard, who was folded into the mix on the left side of the fourth line with Tanner Glass and Dom Moore, while Jesper Fast was bumped up to Zuccarello’s regular spot on the right with Rick Nash and Derick Brassard.

“I think it’s more an indication that Jesper has played well,” Vigneault said of the 23yearold Swede, who was a minus1 and had one shot on goal in 11: 34. “He’s a versatile player, so I’d like to see what he can do up there with those two guys.”

Sheppard scored on a thirdperiod tipin, playing a total of 12: 05.

Defenseman Kevin Klein had the followup Xray on his broken left arm , and according to Vigneault, “everything is going along fine.”

The righthanded topfour blue liner also skated by himself again on Tuesday morning.

“We played [ Monday], we’re playing [ Tuesday], I’m not worried about Klein right now,” a joking Vigneault said.

Before the game, Vigneault deflected any questions that looked forward into the playoffs, including if he wanted to have a set lineup of any configuration for Game 1 of the first round.

“Right now, the only thing on my mind is this game,” he said.

The Rangers tied their singleseason franchise record with their 52nd win, and their 111 points are one shy of the record set in the 199394 season.

Itwas also their 27th road win and 57th road points of the season, extending what were already franchise records. They became the first team to have 27 road wins in a season since the 201011 Canucks, also coached by Vigneault.