It was more than another win for Henrik Lundqvist.
The goaltender stopped three of four shots by the Devils in a shootout at Madison Square Garden to secure a 3-2 win for the Rangers on Sunday night, the Blueshirts’ third in a row. They’ve won six of seven.
Lundqvist tied Dominik Hasek for the most wins (389) by a European-born goalie in NHL history.
Kevin Hayes scored the winner in the fourth round, after Mats Zuccarello opened the shootout by beating Cory Schneider. Zuccarello, who also scored in a shootout in Saturday’s win over the Predators, is 17-for-34 for his career in a shootout.
Lundqvist, who had 29 saves through overtime, allowed a goal by Mike Cammalleri, and he stopped Taylor Hall, P.A. Parenteau and Damon Severson.
Since the rout of the Devils last Sunday, when the Rangers scored five times, they had found the net for just four goals in three games, only two at even strength and none on the power play.
They include: Jesper Fast’s midair swipe in a loss to the Blackhawks, and Rick Nash’s tally in Nashville before the Blueshirts prevailed in a shootout. Nash also scored shorthanded in Dallas and Zuccarello added an empty-netter.
Somehow the Blueshirts (23-10-1) won two of those three, and Sunday night’s game was another match decided past regulation.
Trailing 2-1 and with time winding down in the third period, Derek Stepan redirected Ryan McDonagh’s pass past Schneider with 1:13 left. With the goal, Stepan has a point in seven of his last 10 games against New Jersey. Schneider finished with 25 saves through overtime.
It was the Rangers’ third game in four nights, the jump wasn’t always there until the third period, and a troubling tendency resurfaced: passing up shots on their two power plays, which is 0-for-7 in the past three games.
To be fair, the first goal by the Devils wasn’t a slick play, either. With Marc Staal in the box for a delay of game for clearing the puck into the netting, Parenteau’s rebound of Kyle Palmieri’s shot at the right post slid under Lundqvist, who was on his back. Reaching back, Lundqvist, playing his third straight game, nudged it in himself with his blocker at 4:37 of the second period.
It was only the eighth time that the struggling Devils (12-12-7) had a lead going into the third period this season, and they tried to hold it, with the only two shots of the first half of the period coming from Miles Wood.
Chris Kreider, left alone in front, tied the score at 1 on a short pass from Zuccarello at 8:10. But the lead didn’t last. With Dan Girardi and Zuccarello unable to secure the puck behind the net, Adam Henrique grabbed it and sent it in front to Wood, who slammed it in at 10:32.
In the first period, the Rangers not only killed two penalties, they forced Schneider to stop four shots off rushes. With Matt Puempel off for cross checking Beau Bennett from behind at 5:31, both Hayes and Nash sped up ice alone, but were denied by Schneider.
They could not, however, cash in on their own man-advantage when Oscar Lindberg was tripped at midice by Wood at 9:02. At that point, they led in shots 7-2, but overpassed and didn’t fire one for two minutes. The Devils spent time in the Rangers’ zone during Staal’s tripping penalty and kept up the pressure afterward. By the end of the first period, the Devils had the edge in shots 11-8, and outshot the Rangers 31-27 overall.
..... - Newsday