New York Rangers vs. New Jersey Devils 4-1 –NHL Tuesday night Match Analysis
New Jersey was on a roll with four straight victories under its belt before their matchup against New York, but the Rangers were too much to handle for the Devils as they dominated the Tuesday night matchup, 4-1, for their second win in a row on December
20, 2011 at the sold-out Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, United States.
The offensive end of the Rangers remained solid and consistent in their scoring while Henrik Lundqvist was all eyes and ears back in the net along with a few of his defenseman. He faced 11 more shots compared to his counterpart in the New Jersey net, Martin
Brodeur, for a total of 31 but still managed to block 30.
"I enjoy playing against this team", said Lundqvist. "It's always a great challenge to play them. There's a lot of action. We all knew that this was going to be a tough one".
Brodeur on the other hand only faced 20 shots but fell short on three while the Rangers fourth and final goal was on an empty net with New York replacing their goalie with an extra forward in the remaining few minutes of regulation.
"It was a good, gritty win", Rangers coach, John Tortorella, said. "It wasn't solid right on through. We didn't do everything right at certain times, but we stayed with it. So, I really liked the grit of the game".
The rebounds worked like magic for the Rangers and as well as on New Jersey’s firsts shot as Travis Zajac made his inaugural goal of the season with less than five minutes remaining to play in the opening period after Dainius Zubrus made the attempt but
was blocked by Lundqvist, giving Zajac the open shot.
"That's how we score," Marian Gaborik said, who picked up two goals in the final period. "We get a lot of rebound, second-chance goals. I just try to stay in front and be there to lay it in."
Two fights broke out early on as the rivalry between the team heated up. Mike Rupp and Cam Janssen exchanged fists only three seconds into the match while David Clarkson and Brandon Dubinsky were the second pair to go at it in the next two minutes.
Artem Anisimov levelled the match with less than three minutes remaining in the second period off a rebound off his own after Derek Stepan missed on his attempt with his seventh of the 2011-2012 National Hockey League (NHL) regular season.
The third period was purely dominated by the Rangers as Marian Gaborik kicked off the scoring spree with his 18th goal five minutes into the final 20 minutes followed by Carl Hagelin on a shorthanded breakaway with Stu Bickel in the next 10 minutes
while Gaborik added another on an empty net with four seconds left until the lass buzzer of regulation.
Devils managed to keep New York on the down low in the first 40 minutes of the game and could have done what the Rangers did in the third but despite having more attempts in the third than their competition, New Jersey failed to pot a single goal.
New York Rangers will now be headed home to play the next three straight at the Madison Square Garden, first of all against New York Islanders while the Devils will be hosting Washington Capitals on Friday.
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