Recap: Late Goals Sink Rangers Against Devils in Penultimate Preseason Tune-Up

With the preseason winding down and just a few roster cuts left to make, the New York Rangers played hosts to the New Jersey Devils. With a few exceptions, it was close to a full lineup for the Rangers as they continue to hold auditions of different line combinations as they look to fill the few job openings they have heading into opening night. J.T. Miller and Adam Fox were the most notable names sitting this one out, with Artemi Panarin becoming a late scratch for “precautionary” reasons as he is still coming back from a lower-body injury 

First Period

Tough start for the Rangers who spent the majority of the first half of the period in their end of the ice. Nico Hischier came incredibly close to making it a 1-0 game early as he sent a backhander over a wide open net following a slick deke around Jonathan Quick. Other than that, there really wasn’t much to take away from this twenty minutes of hockey. Through fourteen minutes of play, there were just three stoppages of play and by the end of the period, there were only eight to show for. 

With three minutes to go in the period, an errant pass from Matt Rempe intended for a defensemen at the point resulted in an easy breakout for the Devils that turned into an odd-man rush. Arseny Gritsyuk passed it over to Paul Cotter who found the back of the net to make it a 1-0 game. A bad giveaway by Rempe but it was also terrible coverage at the blueline and gap control from Scott Morrow and Matthew Robertson. 

Shots at the end of twenty were 4-3 New Jersey. The one line that stood out to me was Edstrom-Parssinen-Raddysh. They weren’t particularly outstanding, but they did generate some buzz in the offensive zone and left me interested in seeing more from that trio. 

Second Period

It was much of the same through the first half of the second as the Rangers were still spending a ton of time in their own end. However, as the period progressed, the Rangers were starting to defend better which translated into playing a better offensive game. That became well-reflected on the shot counter as the Rangers would finish the period out-shooting the Devils 14-6, allowing for just two shots from the Devils throughout the second. 

With about six and a half minutes to go, a great forechecking effort from Adam Edstrom resulted in quite a unique goal. Devils defenseman Simon Nemec attempted to make a breakout pass but the puck went right off the leg of Edstrom and into the back of the Devils net, tying the game 1-1. 

About a minute later, we finally had the first penalty of the game as Jonas Siegenthaler was called for holding Vincent Trocheck. Morrow and Zibanejad ran the point for the Rangers top power play unit with Trocheck in between Lafrenière and Perreault. Not much would come from the man advantage on the Rangers end but Jack Hughes had a grade-A scoring chance that Quick needed to be sharp for.

Third Period

Just over a minute into the final stanza, Schneider got the stick up high on Evgenii Dadonov which gave the Devils their first power play of the night. A minute and a half into which, Ondrej Palat was able to redirect a shot from Douggie Hamilton at the point to convert on the man advantage, making it a 2-1 game in their favor. Tough redirect but Palat was left alone and unbothered in front of the Rangers’ net. 

With less than three minutes to go in regulation, Vincent Trocheck did a good job on the breakout, finding Lafrenière pressing hard to the net. Lafrenière pulled off a nice forehand-backhand move but would not find the back of the net. Following the whistle that came as a result of that play, the Rangers pulled Quick for the extra attacker to try and claw their way back into things.

That quickly came to an end as Siegenthaler got tangled up with Trocheck in the corner which resulted in the two of them going at it. Although, it was mainly Siegenthaler who was delivering a number of crosschecks to Trocheck, who is still wearing full face protection from an ailment he picked up in training camp. Despite Siegenthaler delivering most, if not all of the blows, the two went off for coincidental minors, bringing play to 4-on-4.

The Rangers pulled Quick again and it wasn't long before Dawson Mercer found the back of the net from center ice .That would do it for this outing that didn't necessarily lack pace, but lacked any real substance or tenacity which I suppose is understandable on account of it still being preseason. I wouldn't say there was much from this one that will change much.

Noah Laba continued to impress, Perreault had a quiet night, Parssinen didn't give the coaching staff any real reason to not keep him around. Will Cuylle looked good as did Adam Edstrom. The final dress rehearsal will come on the road as the Rangers ship up to Boston to take on the Bruins for a Saturday matinee this weekend.