"It was tough. It was definitely tough," said Lundqvist, who also made a season-high 45 saves. "It's important for me to stay calm, but it's hard at times when we just gave away the puck a lot."
New Jersey jumped out to the lead 7:22 into the contest on a goal by John Moore. But New York responded with two goals in 2:04, beginning with Jimmy Vesey's seventh of the year just 2:33 after Moore's goal.
Nick Holden notched his second of the year to give the Rangers their first lead of the night. Holden capitalized on a give-and-go with Chris Kreider, with the defenseman burying a rebound past Cory Schneider.
The lead held up until Blake Coleman evened the score at 16:24 of a second period that saw the Devils control he play, outshooting the Rangers 23-8.
Kevin Hayes' third goal in his last four games put the Rangers back on top 1:48 into the third when he threw a puck on goal that banked in off Damon Severson on the side of the net.
But one again, the Devils tied it, this time with a power play goal by Brian Boyle, who also scored the game-deciding goal in the shootout.
Rangers head coach Alain Vigneault was quick to give New Jersey credit where it was due, but added that over the first 40 minutes, his team did "everything we could to lose that game," namely by committing 13 giveaways over 65 minutes.
"We just didn't play well. No system in the world can defend the amount of turnovers we had in the first two periods, and it started with the first shift of the game," Vigneault said. "At the end of the day, you have to make plays with the puck. We didn't make plays and they got some good looks on it."
The 48 shots the Devils sent his way were the sixth time in his last seven games that Lundqvist faced at least 30 shots, and the fifth time this season he's faced at least 40 shots. With that said, in the competitive Metropolitan Division, every point helps.
"I'm happy we got the point," Lundqvist said. "We battled at times, but we've got to be better in a game like this where it's an important game. They're a team that's right ahead of us. We need to take a good look in the mirror because we have to be better in the next game."
