Rangers sweep Devils, claim President’s Trophy at The Rock! (NYR 4 v NJD 2)

Rangers win President's Trophy (NY POST backpage)

Rangers win President’s Trophy (NY POST backpage)

The final score was way to kind to the NJ Devils and what little fans they had in attendance. A sea of Blue overtook the Prudential Center known as “The Rock” as the Rangers made the Devils hit rock bottom.

RANGERS 4 v. DEVILS 2

NYR 4 v NJD 2 (NHL)

NYR 4 v NJD 2 (NHL)

Earlier in the day, Lou Lamoriello said that no end of the year awards would be given out. I guess that’s a Lou tactic and statement that he doesn’t award failure. Sad, because if not for Cory Schneider this season, Lou would probably be looking for a new job this summer.

NJ came out with a chip on their shoulder and played as dirty a game as I’ve ever seen. The referees called 7 minors on the Devils but not once handed out a game misconduct. It was so apparent that NJ had no intention of competing in the early going and were simply looking to lay a hurt on any Ranger in sight. That approach sealed their fate as the Rangers stayed poised looking to accomplish a major milestone on enemy ice.

The Blueshirts opened the scoring on a tally by impressive rookie Kevin Hayes. While he isn’t in contention for the Calder Trophy, he could very well have the best career of the bunch today.

Hayes said afterwards that it has been an “impressive year” as he deflected any focus on himself. “We’ve had some injuries and had some key guys step up this season. It just shows we have a deep team that was successful from start to finish.”

Shockingly, even the Rangers anemic power play got on the board when Ryan McDonagh blasted one by Schneider. The Devils would answer with a tally by Patrik Elias on the man advantage but this was a close as the game would really be.

In the third period, James Sheppard made his case for staying in the lineup with a quick hands rebound score. The Devils would answer less than a minute later but Carl Hagelin would clinch the President’s Trophy at The Rock with an empty net goal.

[su_quote cite=”Alain Vigneault via NHL.com” url=”https://www.nhl.com/gamecenter/en/recap?id=2014021190&navid=nhl:topheads”]”Winning the Presidents’ Trophy is not an easy thing to do; just look at the teams right now fighting to get into the [Stanley Cup] Playoffs,” Rangers coach Alain Vigneault said. “It’s a challenging thing, and I think for our group it’s just one step in the direction that we’re looking to get to. I’m very proud of our group, but we all know that we’re going to be judged by what we do in the playoffs, so this is a first step. “Now we need to get ready for the next one.”[/su_quote]

NOTES

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Anthony Scultore has been covering the New York Rangers and the NHL since 2014. His work also appears at... More about Anthony Scultore

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