NEWARK, N.J. – When this playoff series between the Rangers and Devils started on Tuesday, it looked as if it could be a long one.
It might not be.
Chris Kreider scored two power-play goals, and Vladimir Tarasenko and Patrick Kane each had a goal as the Rangers dominated their Hudson River rivals and beat them, 5-1, at Prudential Center Thursday to sweep the first two games of the teams’ first-round series and take a commanding 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series.
Kaapo Kakko also scored for the Rangers, and goaltender Igor Shesterkin made 22 saves as the Rangers, who took the first two games of the series on the road, now go home to Madison Square Garden for Game 3 Saturday night and Game 4 Monday.
NHL teams that have won the first two games of a best-of-seven series have won the series 85 times in 105 chances.
The Devils, in desperation mode after losing the series opener, 5-1, on Tuesday, scored the first goal of the game on a power play by Erik Haula midway through the first period. And then the Rangers took the game over. They scored three times in the second period, with Tarasenko’s second goal of the playoffs getting them on the board, and then Kreider’s third and fourth of the playoffs putting them up 3-1.
Kane made it 4-1 at 6:34 of the third period on a brilliant individual effort when he stole the puck from Jesper Bratt in the neutral zone and weaved his way in on a two-on-one with Kreider, and drove the net and lifted a backhander over Vitek Vanecek (25 saves) for his first playoff goal with the Rangers.
Kakko scored off an assist from Filip Chytil at 13:05, and after that the game deteriorated into a penalty-filled affair. The Rangers’ Braden Schneider and the Devils’ Michael McLeod fought, and several players were sent off the ice for misconduct penalties in the final minutes of the game.
Devils coach Lindy Ruff, the former Rangers assistant, made one change in his lineup from Tuesday’s game, inserting former Rangers defenseman Brendan Smith and removing Jonas Siegenthaler. Smith, playing on the third defense pair, was called for an early roughing penalty against the Rangers’ Tyler Motte, but the Devils were able to kill it.
The home fans started the game bringing lots of noise and support for the Devils, trying to help their team with all their hearts and voices. They chanted “Vitek! Vitek!’’ when Vanecek made a routine save early in the first period and made a point of trying to drown out the Ranger fans in the building.
The Rangers were unfazed, and actually had the better of play in the first half of the period, jumping out to an early shots-on-goal advantage, before defenseman Niko Mikkola took a cross-checking penalty at 9:46. Two seconds before the penalty expired, Erik Haula reached behind Shesterkin to sweep in the rebound of a shot by Michael McLeod and give the Devils their first lead of the series.
But the Rangers shrugged that off and started peppering Vanecek early in the second period, and eventually, after an extended period of back-and-forth, hard-hitting hockey, Vladimir Tarasenko whipped a shot through traffic that Vincent Trocheck either did or didn’t get a slight deflection on. The official scorer ruled Trocheck did not touch it, and the goal was credited to Tarasenko at 5:53, tying the score at 1-1.
Then the Rangers power play went to work.
After coming up empty on their first two attempts, the Rangers’ top power play unit converted when Miles Wood was called for slashing Artemi Panarin behind the Rangers’ own net at 8:16 of the second. The first power play unit of Panarin, Mika Zibanejad, Adam Fox, Kane and Kreider, zipped the puck around until Kane took a long shot from the top of the slot and Kreider got a stick on it, deflecting it past Vanecek at 9:57.
That gave the Rangers the lead, 2-1, and the visitors suddenly looked like sharks smelling blood in the water. The Devils’ Timo Meier hauled down Zibanejad and was called for a holding penalty at 15:19 and 41 seconds later, Kane sent a pass down to Kreider, set up just outside the right wing goal post. Kreider deftly deflected the puck over Vanecek’s right shoulder and it dropped in to give the Rangers a 3-1 lead.
