It was another blowout loss for the New Jersey Devils in their Thursday night contest with their rival New York Rangers in a matchup at the Prudential Center. With a crucial two points on the table, the Devils’ power play woes proved costly and their struggles to finish opportunities came to the forefront yet again as they were embarrassed by a Metropolitan Division foe for the second-straight game.

After the game, Devils head coach Lindy Ruff revealed in a post-game press conference that All-Star forward Jack Hughes still is not 100% following his injury. Additionally, forward Jesper Bratt and defenseman John Marino both tried to play through illness in their matchup.

New Jersey now sits at 28-24-4 on the season. They are seven points back of the third-place Washington Capitals. In the wild card race, they are five points back of the Tampa Bay Lightning with two games in hand.

Game Recap

First Period

Just 2:25 into the opening frame, Rangers rookie Matt Rempe was ejected from the game after receiving a match penalty for delivering a crushing hit to the head of Devils forward Nate Bastian. Devils defenseman Jonas Siegenthaler was assessed a two-minute minor for roughing, as was Rempe, but Rempe was also give a five-minute major and game misconduct for his hit. Bastian left the game for repairs and did not return until the second period, before ultimately leaving the game due to what Ruff said after the game was a separate injury.

The Devils had a five-minute power play, and the best chance of the man-advantage came from the opposing Rangers on a shorthanded opportunity that hit off the post. After the stinker of a power play, the Rangers were given a power play of their own on as Devils forward Curtis Lazar was given a minor penalty for slashing the glove of Rangers netminder Igor Shesterkin. It took Mika Zibanejad just five seconds to do what the Devils could not in five whole minutes of power play time – score a power play goal. The Rangers jumped ahead to a 1-0 lead at 9:14 of the first period.

Later, the Devils’ power play unit had another attempt to tie the game as Artemi Panarin went off for hooking Tyler Toffoli on a partial breakaway, but a slash by Devils forward Erik Haula brought the game to four-on-four play just about a minute into the Devils’ man advantage at 17:51. Again, it only took five seconds of four-on-four time for Alexis Lafreniere to notch his 15th goal of the season after a brutal Luke Hughes giveaway next to Devils netminder Nico Daws at 17:56.

Second Period

The second period began similarly to the first period, with Bastian receiving a hit from Rangers captain Jacob Trouba in the Rangers defensive end, albeit this hit was much cleaner. Bastian came back to his skates and tugged on the back of Trouba’s jersey before putting him in a headlock. The two exchanged fisticuffs at 2:22, and Bastian received an additional minor for roughing. At 9:53, Chris Kreider expanded the Rangers lead to 3-0 after Shesterkin made an outlet pass that caught the Devils in a line change.

New Jersey had another opportunity to claw their way back into the game as Rangers forward Kaapo Kakko received a four-minute double minor for high-sticking Devils defenseman Simon Nemec in the mouth, which drew blood at 11:08. New Jersey’s power play woes continued as they failed to convert again on their four-minute power play at a crucial juncture of the game. At 16:35, Erik Gustafsson went off for tripping Jack Hughes and again the Devils could not score on the man-advantage.

With just under 40 seconds to play in the middle frame, Lafreniere struck again to give the Rangers their fourth unanswered goal of the game.

Third Period

Facing a daunting 4-0 Rangers lead, the Devils came out in the third period throwing everything but the kitchen sink at Shesterkin. However, shots from the perimeter with no traffic in front of the net caused Shesterkin to save just about everything the Devils threw at him. The Rangers, however, scored on one of their four shots on goal in the third period thanks to a tally by Vincent Trochek at 14:29 of the final frame.

Jack Hughes scored his 18th of the season at 17:53 to break the shutout.

The Rangers would go on to win the game by a final score of 5-1 en route to their ninth-consecutive victory.

Game Notes

• The Devils surrendered five goals on just 18 Rangers shots throughout the game, while only getting one goal past Shesterkin on 40 shots themselves.
• New Jersey’s power play remains ice cold, as they went 0-for-5 on their chances tonight. This concerning trend spans the last 14 games, as they have now only converted on just two of their last 46 power plays.

What’s Next

The Devils are off on Friday before hosting a back-to-back at the Prudential Center on Saturday and Sunday. The Montreal Canadiens play Saturday with puck drop slated for 2:00 pm ET, while the Tampa Bay Lightning, who currently occupy the final wildcard spot, visit the Rock at 1:00 pm ET on Sunday.