New Jersey Devils right wing Lee Stempniak, left, celebrates with teammates after scoring the winning goal against the New York Rangers in overtime of an NHL hockey game at Madison Square Garden on Sunday, Oct. 18, 2015, in New York. The Devils defeated the Rangers 2-1. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger) The Associated Press
NEW YORK, NY – On Sunday, the 1-3-1 New Jersey Devils took their two points back with them to the other side of the Hudson River. Devils forward and first star of the game Lee Stempniak, who played for the Rangers during a portion of the 2014-15 regular season prior to being traded to the Winnipeg Jets, netted his first goal of the year on Sunday afternoon as the Devils defeated their Hudson River rivals 2-1 in overtime.
After scoring in regulation and in the shootout on Friday night, Adam Henrique continued his point streak on Sunday with his game-tying goal early in the 2nd period and with one assist on Stempniak’s game-winning tally.
Devils defenseman Damon Severson continued his point streak as well on Sunday, tallying an assist in each of the last two games he has played. He assisted on Henrique’s goal on Friday night and on Henrique’s goal on Sunday afternoon.
Sunday’s defeat over the Rangers also marked the first National Hockey League victory for Devils head coach John Hynes.
“It feels great,” Hynes said. “Really just happy for the team. We have gone through a lot of changes and I thought we were up and down in some of our first games, but I really credit the players’ attitude every day. They’ve worked to get better. We feel we continue to do that. It’s just gratifying that for our guys we were able to get a win for the hard work.”
Cory Schneider and Henrik Lundqvist each played 63:07 on Sunday afternoon. After finishing with a 33-save performance on Friday evening, Schneider stopped 26 of 27 shots and maintained a .963 save percentage.
“It felt great,” said Schneider. “Maybe the celebration was a little much for the fifth game of the year, but you could just tell everyone, some frustration, anger, whatever it might have been kind of came out there and it was exciting. It felt really good. It’s just one game, though, so we can’t get ahead of ourselves, but I think having that feeling in the room and that confidence in each other, hopefully, we can turn it into something here.”
The New Jersey Devils will return to Prudential Center on Tuesday night at 7:00 against the Arizona Coyotes. Be sure to keep your eye on our website, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram pages for all of the latest updates leading up to the game.
Credits to Mike Morreale, Tom Gulitti, and the New Jersey Devils public relations department for the quotes and statistics.
Nick Papadimas is a New Jersey native, New Jersey Devils season ticket holder, and avid hockey fan. He is an aspiring sports journalist who has covered high school sports and local events for TAPinto.net since 2012. Nick can be reached on Twitter (@ngpaps) or by e-mail at papadimasn@icloud.com.
