Devils Edge Rangers in Critical Late-Season Victory | GAME STORY

With pride, bragging rights and possibly home-ice advantage in the opening round of the Stanley Cup playoffs on the line, it was the Devils that got the best of their cross-river rivals, the New York Rangers, 2-1, Thursday night at Prudential Center.
With the victory, New Jersey extends its lead on the Rangers to four points for the No. 2 seed and home-ice in a possible first-round showdown with the Blueshirts with seven games remaining.
"It did have that (playoff) feel," head coach Lindy Ruff said. "Energy in the building again, how tight the game was."
Erik Haula and Timo Meier scored the goals for the Devils.
Chris Kreider scored the lone Rangers tally.
"This morning it felt like it was already playoffs," Haula said. "Everyone keeps talking about us and the Rangers. It was exaclty what people expected it to be. It was tight. It's going to close games, a lot of skill, a lot of speed.
"I think we took a step. It was a full game. It was tight. They have lines that can score. I thought we executed our game plan pretty well."

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The Devils hit the road for a back-to-back swing through Chicago Saturday and Winnipeg Sunday.
The games can be seen on ESPN2 and MSGSN2 respectively and heard on the Devils Hockey Network, including right here at NewJerseyDevils.com. Puck drop in Chicago is 8:08 p.m. ET.
Here are some observations from the game...
- The Devils played one of their most complete games of the season. The mistakes and miscommunications of the past few games was gone. Instead, New Jersey executed at both ends of the ice, creating offensive scoring chances while limited chances against. They didn't commit some of the mental errors that led to numerous odd-man rushes against. They were above the Rangers all night and cut off their rush lanes.

"Ninety percent of that game was tracking and getting above people," Ruff said. "The job we did of replacing D when they got involved and pinched on the wall ... just those details were so much better."

"They are a good team. They execute short 3-on-2s," defenseman Ryan Graves said. "It was really important for us not to give them rush chances because they have some really dangerous players that really feed off the rush. It was a really mature game for us."

- The Devils have been trying to figure out the power play lately. They've made lots of changes and adjustments. The latest look has Meier back in the bumper position while occasionally rotating with Nico Hischier at the net-front.

Meier showed why he can be effective in the bumper. He took a pass from Jack Hughes and snapped a shot on net. It deflected off the stick of Barclay Goodrow and into the net. Meier hasn't played much bumper in his career, but once he gets comfortable, he could really excel in the position.

"Jack found me pretty good. I got a little lucky it hit off their guy's stick," Meier said. "For the power play it was nice to get this one. It definitely feels good."

- Haula was the Devils' lone goal scorer against the Islanders with a shorthanded tally. He picked up consecutive goals for New Jersey by opening the scoring against New York. He was cutting to the net when Dougie Hamilton made a shot-pass that Huala batted in.

"I beat my guy off the mark and the puck came right to me," Haula said. "It was nice to put in."

- When Miles Wood was asked about facing a goaltender of Igor Shesterkin's caliber, his response was, "We face Vitek Vanecek every day in practice. He's a pretty good goaltender, too."

Vanecek backed up Wood's words in his head-to-head showing with Shersterkin. He was cool, calm and looked determined. His best save came on Vincent Trocheck from right in the slot. The Devils needed Vanecek to be a wall, and he was exactly that when needed. There were many leaks in the Devils D tonight, but Vanecek clogged the holes. He picked up his 30th win of the season, joining Martin Brodeur as the only 30-win goalies in team history.

"They're going to put a statue (of Vanecek) right next to (Brodeur)," Ruff said. "In a game like this we needed several key saves. I thought we defended well in front of him but he did make several key saves when we needed it."

"I'm really happy I have 30 wins but I have to give credit to my teammates," Vanecek said. "They always play really good in front of me. So, that's a big credit for them."

- Dougie Hamilton had himself a game. He was pinching, active and constantly finding open lanes for good looks on goal. Twice he pinched into the slot for scoring chances. His shot-pass to Haula went into the net. Hamilton showed the flashes of offensive brilliance that made him so highly-sought after in the free agency pool. Hamilton picked up his career-best 50th assist of the season on Haula's goal.

"I thought he got a lot of pucks to the net," Ruff said. "I thought he had a solid game for us, puck movement-wise, getting up ice, all parts of his game were good."

- The Devils had a much better start against New York than it has shown in the past few games. Some of the Devils' performances of late (most notably Monday on Long Island) have been flat with poor structure. However, against the Rangers you could see the Devils were amped up from the start of the game and brought some real passion and emotion to the ice. They were much better structurally, too. With the exception of one breakaway, they didn't allow any odd-man rushes against and guarded well against a dangerous rush attack from New York in the first period. The Devils had a 2-0 lead after 20 minutes of play thanks to their efforts.

"We got that early lead. I liked our first period," Ruff said. "Our first period has been somethign that we haven't like."