The new-look Rangers might want to try a new look.
Despite dressing a lineup that featured all NHLers for the first time in quite a bit, with trade-deadline acquisitions Andrew Copp, Tyler Motte and Justin Braun immediately slotting in, the Rangers were all over the place in an ugly 7-4 loss to the dead-in-the-water Devils on Tuesday night at Prudential Center.
The lopsided defeat not only cast a shadow over the new guys’ Rangers debuts and an otherwise productive trade deadline day, but also saw Rangers star goalie Igor Shesterkin get pulled for the second time in his last five starts.
Shesterkin, who gave up five or more goals for just the third time this season and the sixth time in his NHL career, may be human after all. But there were plenty of defensive breakdowns in front of the 26-year-old netminder that led to some of those goals.
“They got on a roll and we couldn’t stop it,” head coach Gerard Gallant said. “A lot of it was self-inflicted.”
After the Rangers built a 2-0 lead in the first period behind goals from Mika Zibanejad and Adam Fox, it was gone 8 ½ minutes into the middle frame — and a distant memory by the end of it. The Devils managed to score five straight goals in the second, with the first four coming in the span of just over six minutes. Six different players scored goals for the Devils.
The Devils’ Dawson Mercer scores a goal past Igor Shesterkin during the second period. Getty ImagesRyan Strome cut the Rangers’ deficit to two at 3:46 of the third, but the Devils’ Jack Hughes added two more — including one on the power play — to keep his team comfortably in the lead.
“I thought it energized us in the first,” said Chris Kreider, who scored his NHL-leading 22nd power-play goal in the third, of the new additions to the lineup. “Maybe to the point where we got a little lackadaisical and thought the game was going to be easy and got away from the things that make us successful.”
Artemi Panarin was also laid out in the neutral zone by Devils top-line winger Yegor Sharangovich in the third period. He was slow to get to the Rangers bench and then made it halfway down the tunnel before turning back for one more shift.
The Rangers skate off after one of the five goals scored by the Devils during the second period. Robert Sabo/New York PostOn paper, the Rangers brought in significant upgrades to retool the lineup for the final stretch of the season. Frank Vatrano, acquired from the Panthers last week, has lined up on the second unit next to Panarin and Strome since his Rangers debut against the Islanders.
Utility forward Copp initially slotted into the left-wing spot of the third line with Filip Chytil and Dryden Hunt, while Motte fortified the fourth line with Barclay Goodrow at center and Ryan Reaves on the right. Defenseman Braun replaced rookie Braden Schneider on the third pair next to Patrik Nemeth.
Gallant didn’t think the Rangers’ sloppy play was due to all the new faces on the ice. To the coach, it was the excessive turnovers and tendency to go for passes that weren’t there that hindered his team the most.
In trying to spark the lineup, Gallant elevated Copp to the first line with Kreider and Zibanejad, which relegated Lafreniere to just 2:16 over four shifts in the final 20 minutes. Goodrow went on the wing of the Panarin-Strome duo and Motte joined Chytil on the third line with Vatrano.
“Everything was OK [with Lafreniere],” Gallant said. “It was me wanting to go three lines and that’s what I chose to do. It wasn’t just Laffy.”






