The day after Pavel Buchnevich became the first Rangers player to score a hat trick on his birthday, Mika Zibanejad came up just as huge for the Rangers on his birthday. The now 28-year-old Zibanejad scored a power-play goal with three minutes left to break a tie and give the Rangers a desperately needed 5-3 victory over the Devils in Newark.
The win gave the Rangers a sweep of the four-game series between the teams and allowed them to keep pace with the Boston Bruins in the race for the playoffs, following the Bruins’ 6-3 win earlier in the day over the Washington Capitals. The Rangers (23-16-6, 52 points) trail the Bruins, who hold the fourth and final playoff spot in the East Division, by four points.
Two third-period goals by the Devils, from rookie Marian Studenic and captain Nico Hischier, had tied the game, 3-3, when the Devils’ Ryan Murray was penalized for high-sticking Kaapo Kakko with 4:10 remaining. Zibanejad took a pass from Ryan Strome in the slot and lifted a shot over goalie MacKenzie Blackwood’s right shoulder and in for his 16th goal of the season to give the Rangers a 4-3 lead. Strome was credited with an empty-net goal at 19:35 when he was hooked from behind by P.K. Subban on a breakaway with the Devils’ net empty.
With Igor Shesterkin having started Saturday’s game at Madison Square Garden, Rangers coach David Quinn opted to start Alexandar Georgiev in goal Sunday, and Georgiev was off to a fine start, having stopped all 10 shots he saw until he went down to stop one from Devils rookie Ty Smith, while the Rangers were killing a penalty. He couldn’t get up after that, and called to the Rangers bench for assistance.
After Rangers athletic trainer Jim Ramsay checked him out, Georgiev was helped off the ice and to the locker room with 2:19 remaining in the first period, and Shesterkin replaced him. Georgiev, though, was back in to start the second period. He finished with 25 saves.
The Rangers led 2-0 lead after the first, thanks to a power-play goal by Chris Kreider and the goal by Kravtsov, who one-timed a pass from Brett Howden from below the right circle faceoff dot past Blackwood at 14:03. Howden stole a pass from Devils defenseman Jonas Siegenthaler and passed to Kravtsov. Kravtsov had appeared to score his first NHL goal in Thursday’s 4-0 win over the Devils at the Garden, but Devils coach Lindy Ruff challenged it, alleging an offside on the play, prior to the goal. The challenge was upheld and the goal wiped off the board.
Alexis Lafreniere made it 3-0 when he drove the net and took a pass from Filip Chytil in his skates, kicked it up to his stick and backhanded it under Blackwood at 5:17 of the second period. Devils defenseman Matt Tennyson checked Lafreniere into Blackwood and into the goal after the play, but everyone was OK and the goal counted.
The Devils got on the board at 18:55 of the period, when Mikhail Maltsev backhanded in the rebound of a P.K. Subban slap shot for his fifth goal of the season.
