Rangers End 6-Game Skid With Win Over Devils

NEW YORK (AP) — Vladislav Namestnikov snapped a tie in the third period, and the New York Rangers beat the New Jersey Devils 4-2 on Saturday night to stop a six-game slide.

Ryan Strome had two goals and an assist and Libor Hajek scored his first NHL goal for the Rangers, who hadn't won since beating the Devils in their previous meeting on Feb. 23. Namestnikov also had two assists, and Henrik Lundqvist made 22 saves.

Damon Severson and Blake Coleman scored first-period goals for New Jersey, which has lost six in a row. Cory Schneider made 37 saves.

The Devils carried a 2-1 lead into the third, but Hajek got a cross-ice pass from Strome and wristed a shot past Schneider on the glove side at 1:29.

Namestnikov then made it 3-2 when he scored his 10th of the season at 13:25 off a pass from Mika Zibanejad. Strome added an empty-netter.

Trailing 2-0 after the first, the Rangers controlled play for most of the second and got on the board late in the period.

Kevin Shattenkirk's shot from just inside the blue line was deflected by Strome, who scored his 12th at 18:22. The Rangers outshot the Devils 14-2 for the period, but Schneider was sharp for New Jersey.

The Devils got off to a fast start.

First, Severson's shot from the right point got past Lundqvist for his 10th of the season 16:26 into the first. Then New Jersey ended its lengthy power-play drought when Coleman deflected Will Butcher's shot for his 19th of the season at 19:49. The Devils had come up empty on their previous 25 power plays.

NOTES: Devils F Travis Zajac reached 500 points with his first-period assist. He is the fourth player in franchise history to reach the mark. ... New Jersey, which is without several forwards because of injuries, recalled forwards Eric Tangradi and Brandon Gignac from Binghamton of the AHL. ... Rangers defenseman Marc Staal was scratched. ... The Rangers agreed to terms with goaltender Adam Huska on an entry-level contract. He appeared in 69 games in the past three seasons with UConn. Huska was a seventh-round selection in the 2015 draft.

UP NEXT

Devils: Continue their six-game trip Tuesday night at Calgary.

Rangers: Open four-game trip at Edmonton on Monday night.

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