Being comfortable with being uncomfortable is a refrain we have heard more than once from the Devils coaching staff and players this season. Tonight against the Rangers they put their money where their mouth is, down two goals before the opening five minutes against their biggest rival.
Artemi Panarin and Mika Zibanejad scored in the opening 3:01 of the game, forcing the Devils into an uncomfortable situation.
But you never count out the New Jersey Devils.
"Not a great start, but we knew lots of hockey left," captain Nico Hischier said, "we came right back with two huge goals and we just kept playing our game. The second period, it's been our period this year."
The Devils evened the score at two before the first period was over, and scored another two in the second to take a 4-2 lead.
Vincent Trochek made it close for the Rangers scoring late in the third, but backstopped by another solid Vitek Vanecek performance, the Devils win for the 19th time in 23 games.
Devils Star on Broadway, Beat Rangers 5-3 | GAME STORY
The Devils were down by two early, before getting goals from all four lines
ALL YOUR POST-GAME INFO
WATCH OUR LIVE POST-GAME SHOW
Host Catherine Bogart has interviews and highlights!
GAME DAY
Box Score
Advanced Stats
Photo Gallery
POST-GAME VIDEO
WATCH -
Full Game Highlights
WATCH -
River Runs Red | REWIND
INTERVIEWS -
Hischier
|
Wood
WATCH -
Lindy Ruff Interview
WHAT'S NEXT
The Devils are back home on Thursday night to face the Nashville Predators.
Here are some observations from the game:
- The goal given up to Artemi Panarin was the quickest goal the Devils conceded to an opponent this season. The goal came at 1:20 of the first period, the previous fastest goal was 1:29 when the club was in Edmonton on Nov. 3.
While starts and first periods haven't been the forté for this team, the beginning tonight certainly put them in an uncomfortable situation, giving up two goals on the opening three shots and trailing 2-0 by the 3:01 mark.
But the club has been preaching about being comfortable being uncomfortable and that certainly is how the club carried their composure for the remainder of the period, clawing their way back to a draw. - After the game head coach Lindy Ruff said he thought momentarily about calling a timeout after the two Rangers goals, but opted not to, with the calm he saw on his bench.
"I think sometimes you call a timeout and you send the message 'holy crap, we're in trouble'", Ruff said, "and I didn't think we were really in that much trouble." - It started with Tomas Tatar who used his soccer skills to corral a pass from Jesper Bratt that was just out of reach. He was able to slow the puck down with his skate, before sending the puck past Igor Shesterkin on his backhand, cutting the Rangers lead to 2-1. - A little less uncomfortable after their first goal, they were soon back to evening things up. The work at the blueline by Jesper Boqvist led to the Devils second goal, outworking Jacob Trouba to keep the puck alive in the zone, forcing the turnover. The sequence ended with an awkward deflection off of what looked like Boqvist's helmet, catching Sharangovich who spun around the catch Shesterkin off-guard.
Gone was the two-goal deficit and the Devils entered the second period tied at two with the Rangers. - And then the Devils took over. The team continued their pushback in the second period, by scoring two more goals before the midway mark of the second period. It started with another Jack Hughes goal, fresh off his first hattrick and a heads-up play by Dawson Mercer who flicked the puck up and out of the zone to catch Hughes streaking. Hughes' goal would make it 3-2. - The first, second, and fourth lines all had goals. The third was not going to be left behind. Michael McLeod's third goal of the season deflected off his body and into the net from a Miles Wood shot that hit the cross-bar and landed in a pile of players. That would complete all four lines scoring and give the Devils the 4-2 lead, stunning some of the Madison Square Garden crowd. - Only 'some' of the crowd was because there was a big contingent of Devils fans who were in the building making their presence known. On occasion you could hear chants of 'Let's go, Devils!' and when the Devils scored, it was loud with cheering and excitement.
"We can't thank them enough," Miles Wood said of the fans, "it was a great win tonight, they're a tough team, especially here. It was a good job by our team." - Tweet from @NJDevils: Welcome to New Jack City. pic.twitter.com/QLaXKGxn4g - Before tonight, the Devils had two previous comeback wins when trialing by two goals. In Edmonton on Nov. 3, and at the very beginning of the season at home against the Anaheim Ducks in a 4-2 win. - Vitek Vanecek took the first penalty of his career, when he swatted away Vincent Trochek from his crease in the first time in his career he's taken a penalty. The Devils went ahead and killed off the penalty for their goaltender.
