NEWARK, N.J. – It’s starting to feel a lot like October and November around here.
Back then, the Rangers were the hottest team in hockey. And today, you can say the same thing.
Thursday’s convincing 5-1 win over the rival New Jersey Devils at Prudential Center marked New York’s ninth straight victory. It’s the longest active streak in the NHL and the longest for the franchise since 2015-16, leaving the Blueshirts one away from tying their record of 10 straight, which hasn’t been done since 1972-73.
“From the start of the game, I thought we were on our toes and playing hard and playing fast,” captain Jacob Trouba said. “That’s the recipe we want.”
Their latest triumphant had a funky feel to it, but a dominant result.
The Devils outshot them by a lopsided 40-18 margin and spent a total of 11:52 on the power play, but the Rangers (38-16-3) were opportunistic when they earned their scoring chances and went 5-for-5 on big night for the penalty kill.
“The PK did an unbelievable job,” Mika Zibanejad said. “That’s a team that can score. I thought we didn’t give them much.”
The Blueshirts separately killed penalties of five and four minutes, scoring shortly after each of them to deflate their desperate opponent.
It left Jersey sitting five points out of the Eastern Conference’s second and final wild card spot, while New York is perched atop the Metro Division with a six-point cushion.
“It might have been one of our best (PK) performances, just the way they tried to attack anything that was a bobbled puck or a loose puck or an entry puck,” Rangers coach Peter Laviolette said. “We were trying to be aggressive, and I think it really limited the opposition.”
Another step forward for Igor Shesterkin
It was an equally impressive performance from Igor Shesterkin, who nearly earned his second shutout in the last four games after going his first 33 appearances of the season without one. Only a Jack Hughes goal with 2:07 remaining prevented that from happening.
Still, the 28-year-old goalie has busted out of his slump in a major way since the all-star break, which was evident again while making 39 saves against the highly skilled Devils. He’s now 5-0 in February with a .945 save percentage.
Shesterkin’s…