Luke Hughes scored two goals as the New Jersey Devils defeated the New York Rangers 7-1 on Thursday at Prudential Center. New Jersey broke the game open with a four-goal second period to secure the victory.
Evan Rodrigues started the scoring for New Jersey with an unassisted wrist shot at 19:30 of the first period. Hughes opened the second period with a snap shot just 18 seconds in, assisted by Timo Meier and Brett Pesce. Nico Hischier extended the margin to 3-0 at 4:08 with a wrist shot off passes from Meier and Dawson Mercer. Arseny Gritsyuk followed 31 seconds later, converting a wrist shot assisted by Jack Hughes and Dougie Hamilton to make it 4-0. Hughes added his second goal of the night on a wrist shot at 16:34 of the second period, set up by Pesce and Amadeus Lombardi.
Stefan Noesen pushed the Devils lead to 6-0 at 7:01 of the third period with a wrist shot for his first goal of the season, assisted by Lombardi and Rodrigues. The Rangers got on the board at 8:02 of the third when Pavel Dorofeyev tipped in a power-play goal assisted by Adam Fox and Alexis Lafrenière. Cody Glass capped the scoring with a shorthanded wrist shot at 14:54, assisted by Mercer and Hamilton, marking his first goal of the season.
Nico Daws made 18 saves on 19 shots to earn the win in net for the Devils. Starting goaltender Dylan Garand took the loss for New York, stopping nine of 13 shots before Spencer Martin entered in relief to make 15 saves on 18 shots. The Rangers scored on one of four power plays, while New Jersey went 0 for 4 on the man advantage but scored once while shorthanded.
The victory moved the Devils to 4-3-0 on the season and extended their winning streak to two games. The Rangers fell to 6-3-0 with the loss.
Both teams continue their regular-season schedules next week. The Rangers host the Anaheim Ducks on Monday, October 19, and the Devils host the Colorado Avalanche on Tuesday, October 20.
