On Broadway this week, it’s the Antti Raanta show as the New York Rangers’ goaltender made 19 saves to record his second straight shutout in a 5-0 win over the New Jersey Devils.
“Like I’ve said many times, he does what a goaltender is supposed to do, gives you a chance to win,” Rangers coach Alain Vigneault said. “He made the timely save at the beginning of the second period (against Vernon Fiddler) that I thought was a difference-maker in this game.”
Raanta is 8-1-0 on the season with some stellar numbers including a 1.65 GAA and 0.943 save percentage.
Once again the Rangers benefited from scoring from across the bench with five different skaters potting goals including Chris Kreider, J.T. Miller, Brady Skjei, Brandon Pirri. and Jimmy Vesey
For Skjei, it was his first NHL goal on a slap shat from the blue line.
The Rangers score4d twice on their power play and added a goal on the Devils’ power play when Miller converted a shorthanded goal on a two-on-one rush.
“Special teams was a big part of the game,” the Devils’ Adam Henrique said. “We gave up a couple on the penalty kill and our power play struggled; that played a big part.”
But the story has been Raanta’s streak and Henrik Lindqvist’s playing backup on the bench.
WATCH: All Devils vs. Rangers highlights
“[Lundqvist] is supportive. We try to push each other and whenever the other guy has a good game or bad game, you’re still there for him,” Raanta said of playing ahead of Lundqvist. “This is a team game so we’re there for each other, we try to help each other. Whenever someone is getting a good job done, we appreciate that; he’s a class act.”
Cory Schneider made 26 saves in the loss.
“We had a couple mistakes on certain plays (in the second) that wound up in the back of our net,” Devils head coach John Hynes said. “The way you fix it is you go back, analyze the game. We have a couple days to regroup and we’ll work at it.”
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