Rolling Rangers sweep Devils
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 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.”
The Rangers caught a break early when Devils defenseman Sami Vatanen was called for a double minor for high sticking 1:33 into the contest.