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Top 5 2019-20 New Jersey Devils Wins Part One: Shearing Rangers

By Luke Garrison

NEWARK, NEW JERSEY - OCTOBER 17: P.K. Subban #76 of the New Jersey Devils celebrates his empty net goal at 19:12 of the third period against the New York Rangers at the Prudential Center on October 17, 2019 in Newark, New Jersey. The Devils defeated the Rangers 5-2. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
NEWARK, NEW JERSEY - OCTOBER 17: P.K. Subban #76 of the New Jersey Devils celebrates his empty net goal at 19:12 of the third period against the New York Rangers at the Prudential Center on October 17, 2019 in Newark, New Jersey. The Devils defeated the Rangers 5-2. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images) /
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The New Jersey Devils season started terribly with six-straight losses. Things finally turned the corner when they took on the rival New York Rangers.

With the 2019-20 NHL season now on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the New Jersey Devils are waiting to finish their horrible season. This season was to prove that things were going to improve from bad seasons past. Now it’s turning into one of many awful Devils seasons of recent memory. When star player Taylor Hall, captain Andy Greene, GM Ray Shero, and coach John Hynes all leave the organization, it shows why the season was so horrifying.

Despite all the negatives of the season, the Devils still put out tremendous wins. Our list begins with a win against the New York Rangers, who also had a big offseason.

How the Rangers improved since last year

Just like the Devils, the New York Rangers were looking to make their roster stronger this offseason. GM Jeff Gorton knew what the team needed. On July 1st, the Rangers signed the star on the free agency market in Artemi Panarin. Along with trading for Jacob Trouba the month before the Panarin signing, the Rangers’ offseason showed they were ready to be competitive. However, the most significant moment for the Rangers offseason came when they selected Kaapo Kakko, the young forward from Finland, 2nd overall in the 2019 NHL Draft.

When the season began for the Rangers, Artemi Panarin and Jacob Trouba scored in their first game, showing the NHL world how good they wanted to be. Kaapo Kakko scored his first goal in a loss against the Edmonton Oilers. With a 2-1 record, the Rangers looked to come into Newark to see if they could put a nail into the Devils coffin very, very early.

How a Good Devils Offseason Turned Into a Bad Devils Start

After the terrible 2018-19 season, the Devils got rewarded with the first-overall pick in the draft. Devils fans knew which player they wanted. When the day of the draft came, fans outside the Prudential Center watched as the Devils took center Jack Hughes. The following day, Devils fans got the news that the Devils acquired defenseman P.K. Subban via trade. However, the Devils we’re not done.

On July 1st, the Devils signed Wayne Simmonds in free agency to help with scoring. However, there was one more move the Devils needed to make. When fans saw the Devils received winger Nikita Gusev in a trade with the Vegas Golden Knights, this is the moment the fans called the Devils the winners of the offseason. Then the season came around.

On Opening Night, the Devils faced off against the Winnipeg Jets. Throughout most of the first two periods, Devils were showing how much fun they could’ve been. They had a 4-0 lead, which included a beautiful Blake Coleman goal. However, the 3rd period showed how bad the season was about to be when Cory Schneider went down with an injury and they let that four-goal lead slip away. The game ended in a shootout loss for New Jersey. The Devils gradually looked worse and worse each game. As the Rangers came into town, the Devils needed to fight hard to get their first win of the season.

The First Two Periods

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Anthony DeAngelo scored six minutes into the game. There was a loose puck that was in front of MacKenzie Blackwood, and DeAngelo buried it home. With the Rangers up early, the Devils, not wanting to lose another game, knew they needed to score soon. Thankfully, Blake Coleman, with just under seven minutes left in the 1st period took a puck that was dumped by Travis Zajac, which Coleman then beat Alexandar Georgiev on a chance in front to tie the game. The period ended with both teams tied at 1.

Now in the 2nd period, an interference penalty against Brady Skjei gave the Devils their 3rd power play of the game. This power play would get it done early, as Kyle Palmieri moved around Brendan Lemieux and scored just four seconds into the man advantage. While neither team scored in the 2nd period after that, Pavel Zacha came close to giving the Devils a 4-1 lead when he had a breakaway.

The Third Period

With the Rangers now down by 2, knowing by now they cannot lose this game, Jesper Fast cut the lead in half. Two minutes into the period, an initial shot by Ryan Strome got rebounded by Jesper Fast to make it a one-goal game.

The Rangers were able to gain momentum when a Taylor Hall goal got waved off due to an early whistle. Basically, Georgiev had a very loose handle on the puck, but Hall was able to knock it away from him instantaneously. The refs called goalie interference on the ice, the Devils challenged it, but to no avail. With all the momentum now shifting to the Rangers, the Devils knew they had to kill that momentum.

With under eight minutes left, Nikita Gusev became the hero of the game by scoring the insurance goal. Gusev took the puck from countryman Artemi Panarin, who just received a bad pass. Gusev then went around Panarin and beat Georgiev to put the Devils up 4-2. With that goal, the Devils were closing in on getting a win. To avoid facing another comeback loss, and with time running down P.K. Subban got his first Devils goal with just under 48 seconds left. He threw the puck 180 feet down the ice, putting it in the empty net.

Join me next time when I look at a win against a similar opponent that the Devils should’ve beaten in a similar situation.

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