Following the frenzy of the NHL trade deadline, Alex Wennberg and Jack Roslovic made their debuts as the New York Rangers turned in one of their best showings and remained atop the Metropolitan Division.
With a visit to the second-place Carolina Hurricanes on the horizon, the Rangers attempt to produce a similar performance in their second game with their new acquisitions Monday night when they host the struggling New Jersey Devils.
Entering Sunday’s games, the Rangers owned three more wins than the Hurricanes, whom they visit Tuesday night. They were eight points ahead after a 2-1 win in Philadelphia extended their winning streak to 10 games on Feb. 24 but entered Saturday with three losses in four games.
Playing their first game since a 4-2 setback to the Florida Panthers on Monday, Wennberg and Roslovic played in a 4-0 win over the St. Louis Blues. The Rangers tied a season high by scoring three power-play goals and took 39 shots on goal.
Vincent Trocheck scored on the power play in the first period and has eight goals in his past 10 games. Chris Kreider scored with the man advantage in the third for his eighth goal in his past 10 games, and Kaapo Kakko scored the final power-play goal after the Rangers opted not to trade the 2019 first-round pick.
Wennberg contributed an assist in his debut while spending time playing on the third line with rookie Will Cuylle and Jimmy Vesey, who scored New York’s other goal. Roslovic took two shots on goal and was a linemate of Kreider and Mika Zibanejad.
“The first couple of shifts, maybe a little rusty, but for me, it felt great,” Wennberg said. “Obviously, coming to a great team as well. At the end of the day, all that matters is the win and the points.”
New Jersey is visiting the Rangers for the first time since a 5-2 loss in Game 6 of the rivals’ first-round series last spring. The Devils won the series in seven before bowing out in five games to the Hurricanes and have dealt with struggles and inconsistencies all season.
The Devils are 4-8-0 in their past 12 contests and have 18 games to make up a six-point deficit in the wild-card race. New Jersey was unable to follow up its solid showing from a 4-1 home win over the Blues on Thursday when it took a 4-2 home loss to the Hurricanes on Saturday afternoon.
Captain Nico Hischier scored in the second period but the Devils allowed the tiebreaking goal 2:50 into the third on a sharp angle before giving up two empty-net goals in interim coach Travis Green’s third game since Lindy Ruff was fired a week ago.
“I thought it took us a little bit in the first period to get up and running the way we needed to against this team,” Green said after the Devils conceded four goals for the 31st time this season. “Definitely, the last two periods, we played pretty good hockey.”
The Rangers are 12-2-1 in the past 15 regular-season meetings. Artemi Panarin scored twice in New York’s 5-3 win on Nov. 18 and Alexis Lafreniere tallied twice in a 5-1 win on Feb. 22.
