The best Christmas present that New Jersey Devils fans could ask for ahead of the Christmas Break was a dominant victory against the New York Rangers. Santa delivered in a big way, as the Devils beat their Hudson River Rivals 5-0. Everything was in the Devils' favor, as the Rangers were reeling from a loss to the Hurricanes on Sunday, and the locker room had to deal with the fact that Chris Kreider was a healthy scratch. They also had no Matt Rempe in the lineup because he was suspended for eight games after an illegal hit on Dallas Stars defenseman Miro Heiskanen.
While things are absolutely on fire on Broadway, The Rock is celebrating his holiday season as the Devils are currently playing their best hockey of the season. Honestly, this is probably the best hockey we've seen the Devils play since their 13-game win streak in November 2022.
The Devils dominated the Rangers from bell to bell on Monday afternoon. Jack Hughes continued his superb play in the rivalry with his 14th and 15th career goal against the Rangers. It was ironically also his 14th and 15th goals of the season. The first opened the scoring as he sent a wrist shot past Jonathan Quick just 4:30 into the game.
Timo Meier, Stefan Noesen, and Dawson Mercer added goals, and the Devils got huge contributions from the fourth line. It was an overall dominant performance, in case that hasn't come across in this write up.
It was also a very chippy game, with each team ending the game with 24 penalty minutes a piece. Brenden Dillon and Paul Cotter both dropped the gloves for the Devils, and there could have been more, but Jonas Siegenthaler decided against fighting Alexis Lafreniere even though he hit him up high earlier in the game.
The loss knocked the Rangers below hockey .500 at 16-17-1, the true low point of their season. Their torrid start has officially evaporated, and they have nothing to show for it as they head into the break. The Devils, meanwhile, sit in first in the Metropolitan Division (with many games at hand). These two quotes from the locker room really show the difference in the Devils and Rangers mindset today.
"We gotta show more heart."Vincent Trocheck, via Arthur Staple
"I’m really lucky to be a Devil and we have great fans. I love how much they have my back. I look up in the stands and see a million 86 jerseys, I think this fanbase loves me and I love playing here."Jack Hughes, via Daniel Amoia
The Devils vibes are as high as they possibly can be at this point. Sheldon Keefe has this team playing an incredible brand of hockey, holding their rivals to just 12 shots, and Jacob Markstrom stopped every single one again. This Devils team is playing like the best in the league. Hopefully, they can keep the good vibes going.