In Newark, in a building deceptively called a road venue, the visiting New York Rangers delighted their traveling faithful who paid to watch them defeat the New Jersey Devils, 5-1, on Thursday night. 
Igor Shesterkin made 39 saves in the win.
The Rangers improved to 38-16-3 off their ninth straight win.
“When we’re at our best, we’re playing with speed and physicality,” New York’s Jacob Trouba said. “I think when we slow the game down and kind of try to go east-west too much, we’re getting on our toes and we’re playing physical, playing hard. It’s really not fun to play against us because we have the guys who can put the puck in the net, too.”
The Rangers took a 2-0 lead in the opening stanza.
Mika Zibanejad hit off the power play near the midway point of the first.
His initial shot frm the left side banged around thecrease, and he picked up and roofed it for the early lead.
“It was a lot of special teams out there, and I thought the penalty kill did an unbelievable job,” Zibanejad said. “It’s a team that can score. I thought we didn’t give them much. Maybe in the third a little bit, but overall I thought we did a really good job, and [Shesterkin] played great.”
Alexis Lafrenière, who hit for a double, potted his first of the game at 17:56 with a wrist shot from the right side after intercepting an errant pass through the circle for the 2-0 lead after the first period.
The Devils dropped to 28-24-4 off their third loss in four games.
“It’s frustrating for everyone, for the players out there, players who are not on the ice. We just need to find a way to score,” Devils captain Nico Hischier said. “We need to execute better, and sometimes we can take more shots and get more traffic in front of the net.”
New Jersey was scoreless on five power play chances.
“The ‘PK’ was confident tonight, and the kills were good,” New York coach Peter Laviolette said. “We attacked everything that was a loose puck and really limited the opposition. It was a total group effort and our guys were pretty physical.”
In the middle frame, the Rangers potted another pair of goals for a 4-0 lead after two periods.
Chris Kreider scored off a perfect pass from Panarin, who skated down the right wing after taking a pass from Shesterkin. Kreider needed only to lift the puck short side for a 3-0 lead.
Lafreniere collected his double with 40 seconds left in the middle frame when split through a gaping hole in the New Jersey defense for an easy wrist shot and the 4-0 advantage.
Vincent Trocheck ballooned the lead to 5-0 at 14:29 of the third period.
“We got outshot by a lot, and usually we’re saying the other thing,” Trouba said. “I thought from the start of the game we were on our toes and playing hard and playing fast. I think that’s the recipe we want to play.”
Jack Hughes scored a lipstick goal with 2:07 left to make the final 5-1.
“I’m obviously not playing my best, but I got to find a way to get to that point and help us make a push,” Hughes said.
But that was what the Rangers fans paid to watch on Thursday night.
Use CodePHN15 – Lafreniere earns #PHNChairoftheNight for his double in Rangers win
Nico Daws made 13 saves in the loss. He was left out to dry by a Devils defense that failed to show up for the game.
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