The New Jersey Devils overcame an early two-goal deficit Monday night, scoring four unanswered goals over a span of 22 minutes bridging the first and second periods in a 5-3 win over the host New York Rangers.
Tomas Tatar and Yegor Sharangovich scored the first two goals before Jack Hughes produced the go-ahead goal for the Devils, who have won three straight and became the first team in NHL history to win 13 games in November (13-1-0).
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Michael McLeod scored the fourth goal before Sharangovich added an empty-netter in the final minute of the game. Goalie Vitek Vanecek made 35 saves.
Artemi Panarin and Mika Zibanejad scored in a span of 1:41 early in the first for the Rangers, who have lost three straight. Vincent Trocheck pulled New York within one by scoring on the power play with 6:42 left in the third.
Goalie Igor Shesterkin recorded 33 saves.
The Rangers began their quick early flurry when Panarin capped a 2-on-1 rush by taking a pass from Filip Chytil and firing a shot past the glove of a sprawling Vanecek 80 seconds after the opening faceoff.
The Rangers doubled the lead at the 3:01 mark, when Zibanejad tucked home the rebound after Vanecek couldn’t corral the puck when Jacob Trouba’s shot hit him in the chest.
The Devils began their comeback a little more than four minutes later when Tatar fired an angled shot over Shesterkin’s glove at the 7:33 mark. Sharangovich tied the game with an unassisted goal at 13:25 when he collected a loose puck, turned and fired an off-balance shot past Shesterkin.
The Devils went ahead on Hughes’ breakaway goal 5:44 into the second. Dawson Mercer’s clearing pass sailed through the neutral zone and to a streaking Hughes, who remained ahead of Ryan Lindgren before putting a shot under Shesterkin’s legs.
McLeod extended the lead to 4-2 almost four minutes later when he put back the rebound of Miles Wood’s shot off the crossbar.
Trocheck scored on the power play when he snuck a rebound of Adam Fox’s slap shot past a gaggle of players in the crease. The Rangers pulled Shesterkin after using their timeout with 2:04 left but Sharangovich added an empty-netter with 15.8 seconds remaining.
–Field Level Media
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