New Jersey is in the fourth wild card spot with a record of 28-24-4.
The New Jersey Devils were handed their 24th loss of the 2023-24 season on Thursday night as the New York Rangers earned a 5-1 victory at Prudential Center.
The Rangers scored the game's opening goal on the power play 9:14 into the first period. Mika Zibanejad earned his 19th of the season. It was unassisted.
Alexis Lafrenière extended New York's lead with two minutes remaining in the first period while the teams played four-on-four.
After 20 minutes, New Jersey had a 16-8 shot advantage over New York but entered the first intermission trailing 2-0.
Chris Kreider's 29th of the season was scored 9:53 into the middle frame. Artemi Panarin, who was a game-time decision, and Igor Shesterkin tallied the assists.
With less than a minute remaining in the second period, Lafrenière scored his second of the night. Panarin picked up his second assist, while Vincent Trocheck earned his first.
New Jersey once again outshot their opponent but trailed 4-0 heading into the second intermission.
Trocheck's snap shot beat Devils netminder Nico Daws with five minutes remaining in the game to give the Rangers a 5-0 lead. Panarin picked up his third point of the night as he was credited with the primary assist.
New Jersey would avoid the shutout as Jack Hughes scored his 18th of the season with two minutes remaining. He extended his point streak against the Rangers to seven games. Tyler Toffoli collected the lone assist.
The Rangers won their ninth straight game as Daws made 13 saves on 18 shots for a .722 save percentage. Shesterkin made 39 saves on 40 shots on the other side of the ice.
UP NEXT: The Devils will host the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday, Feb. 24.
LINES:
Ondrej Palat - Nico Hischier - Jesper Bratt
Jack Hughes - Erik Haula - Tyler Toffoli
Timo Meier - Curtis Lazar - Dawson Mercer
Alexander Holtz - Tomas Nosek - Nathan Bastian
Luke Hughes - John Marino
Kevin Bahl - Simon Nemec
Jonas Siegenthaler - Brendan Smith
Nico Daws
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