Game Preview #63: New York Rangers @ New Jersey Devils
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- The Matchup: New York Rangers (24-29-8) @ New Jersey Devils (31-29-2)
- The Time: 3:00 pm EST
- The Broadcast: ABC, Devils Hockey Radio
Last Devils Game
On Wednesday night, The Devils defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-3 in the shootout. After losing their previous 5 games in a row, the Devils are now on a 3 game win streak. Don’t get too excited though. The 3 wins were against teams that are all currently sitting out of a playoff spot (St. Louis, Florida, and Toronto), so this was more a matter of one bad team beating another bad team, than the Devils figuring it out, after 62 games. The Devils are also 9 points out of the 2nd Wild Card spot, with only 20 games left to play. The two teams in WC1 and WC2 also have 2 games in hand on the Devils. Long story short, in shocking news…things are not looking good for the Devils regarding the playoffs. But hey, a win is a win I suppose.
Jacob Markstrom started the game, his 4th game in a row, getting the win, his 18th of the season. Even though he still sports a 3.05 GAA and a repulsive .888 SV%, he’s only let up 5 goals in his last 3 games. I guess Sheldon Keefe has finally decided to ride the hot goalie….62 games into the season.
The Devils and Maple Leafs traded goals in every single period. The score was 1-1 after the 1st, 2-2 after the 2nd and 3-3, after the 3rd, to send the game to OT and eventually the skills competition. The Devils did not hold the lead once for the entire game, with each of their goals serving as a response to a Toronto goal. Timo Meier (17th), Arseny Gritsyuk (11th), and Connor Brown (11th) all scored goals for the Devils. I know Jack Hughes can do no wrong in some people’s eyes, since he’s an Olympic Hero now, but it would be nice if he could score some goals for the Devils again…at some point. He has 2 goals in his last 24 games. Listen, I’m not saying to trade him, and call it whatever you want, but 2 goals in 24 games is putrid. Period.
Last Rangers Game
On Thursday night, the Rangers defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs, 6-2 at home. The win was the Rangers second in their last 3 games. However, it was also only their 4th in their last 18 games. Igor Shesterkin started the game, his 4th in a row, as he’s now played every game since the return from the Olympics. I would assume that Jonathan Quick would get a start again at some point, but who knows if that will be today. The win for the Rangers was their first home win in regulation since 11/24. The Devils are bad my friends, but at least they aren’t the Rangers.
Toronto got on the scoreboard first, with a goal 13 seconds into the game. The Rangers were able to tie it up and end the first period tied at 1-1. Toronto went ahead again 5:27 into the second, and the Rangers were able to tie it up just over 2 minutes later to head into the final period tied at 2-2. The Rangers ran away with the game in the 3rd period, scoring 3 unanswered goals in less than 6 minutes to go up 5-2, before putting the nail in the coffin with an ENG to make it 6-2.
Injuries, Roster for Tonight, Yada, Yada, Yada.
The NHL trade deadline was Friday at 3:00pm EST. The roster of the Devils might look a lot different on Saturday morning than it does as of the time this article was written. If you want to check out the chatter from yesterday, see this article from Friday. In addition, if any moves of significance are made on Friday, I’m sure they will warrant their own posts either Friday afternoon or night. For the time being, the Devils did place Evgenii Dadonov, Luke Glendening and Maxim Tsyplakov on waivers. Jake Allen hasn’t played in the last 4 games, so he might get the start today, and even if he doesn’t, I’d expect him to play one of the back to back games this weekend.
Grimace’s Prediction and 2025-2026 Record Tracker
Grimace is predicting another loss for the Devils today. They finally broke the “we can’t win 4 in a row curse” this year, but he still thinks 4 wins in a row is some kind of kryptonite for the Devils. For what it’s worth, he’s been off his meds lately, so take this with a grain of salt.
Grimace’s 2025-2026 Season Prediction record currently stands at 12-13-0.
Your Take
The Devils have won 3 games in a row, and winning is always fun. I just wish it was earlier in the season when it mattered. Sure, the Devils mathematically have a chance to make the playoffs, but realistically, I don’t see it happening. Everything would need to go right for them and at the same time, wrong for other teams. At a minimum, I always want to see the Rangers lose and their fans suffer more than they already have this season (and in their miserable lives), so “let’s go Devils!” Feel free to leave your thoughts and comments below and thanks for reading!
In a shameless bit of non hockey related self promotion (approved by Chris – thanks Chris), I wanted to plug my brand new podcast on here, if any of you are interested in listening. We have a light hearted, fun discussion about any movies, music or video games mostly from the 1980s and 1990s. Please feel free to listen to us on any of the formats below and any feedback is welcome (positive and negative). Also, please follow us and subscribe, even if you think we stink. 🙂
