Still smarting from blown lead, Rangers take on Devils

On the surface, getting a point against the Boston Bruins may seem like a good outcome for the New York Rangers, especially with how things are going of late.

Not so fast, according to coach David Quinn, whose team hopes to get two points out of its visit to New Jersey to face the Devils on Saturday afternoon.

The Rangers are 9-4-2 in their last 15 games, but missed a chance at a season-high fourth straight victory on Friday when they were beaten 3-2 by the Bruins in overtime.

New York led 2-0 on goals by Pavel Buchnevich and Filip Chytil. The Rangers wound up allowing a late goal in the second period and the tying goal early in the third before losing 1:40 into overtime.

"Maybe if you look at the schedule and say you're going to come out of Boston with a point, you're going to feel good about it, but we feel like we pissed away a point," Quinn said.

Besides blowing the lead, the Rangers also went 0-for-6 on the power play, including a four-minute man advantage in the third and 5-on-3 in the second where the Rangers did not muster a shot on goal.

The Rangers also missed a chance at getting the two points on a day in which Artemi Panarin continued his roll. Panarin collected an assist and enters Saturday with 10 goals and 19 assists over his last 20 games.

The Devils are trying to win consecutive games for the fourth time this season after getting a 6-4 win Thursday in Montreal. New Jersey is 9-7-2 in its last 18 games since starting off 0-4-2, and 7-6-0 in its last 13 games.

New Jersey's last two wins have produced two of its better offensive showings of the season, marking two of five instances it has scored at least five goals.

The Devils scored four times in the third period of a 5-1 win over Detroit on Nov. 23, and rebounded from Tuesday's 3-2 loss to Minnesota by tying its season high for goals.

Blake Coleman scored twice and had a four-point night, giving him four goals and six points in his last three games. Travis Zajac had a goal and two assists Thursday for his first three-point night of the season, and rookie Nikita Gusev added three assists.

"That's the kind of team we have. We're not overly big, but we're fast," Coleman said after the Devils overcame being outshot 48-35. "We can get moving and get pucks behind teams' defense, and then our speed shows through. That's when we can really generate a lot more opportunities.

The Devils are hoping to start getting more goals out of Taylor Hall, who leads the team with 21 points but has only four goals. Three of his goals are in his last 14 games after he scored once in his first 10 contests.

New Jersey posted a 5-2 home win over the Rangers in their first meeting on Oct. 17 when Kyle Palmieri and Miles Wood tallied in the second period.

The Devils are 7-1-1 in their last nine home meetings with the Rangers and are trying to win three straight games overall from the Rangers for the first time since Oct. 19-Dec. 7, 2013.

--Field Level Media