The New York Rangers could rebrand to the New York Roughhousers after Thursday night.
That would be appropriate after the way the Blueshirts pushed and shoved the Devils around at Prudential Center in a feisty 5-1 win, which featured two fights and a playoff-like intensity they didn’t even have during the first-round series between the two clubs 10 months ago.
“When we’re at our best, we’re playing with speed and physicality,” captain Jacob Trouba said after the Rangers loaded their ninth straight win onto their bus back to New York. That tied the third-longest win streak in franchise history set during the 2015-16 season.
“[Coach Peter Laviolette] says that all the time, but honestly, it’s true. When we slow the game down, we’re getting on our toes and we’re playing physical, playing hard, it’s really no fun to play against — because we have the guys who can put the puck in the net, too.
“If guys like myself can step up and add that element to our game and make it not enjoyable to play against the Rangers, we know we have guys that are going to put the puck in the net.”
This one got nasty quickly. There was blood drawn. The hatred was palpable.
And the Rangers played their part in a headstrong, smart way that left the Devils unable to see past the red.
Goalie Igor Shesterkin was nearly perfect. He was dominant, displaying the sort of swagger in net he briefly lost, but has rediscovered tenfold this month. With 39 saves and even an assist on the night, Shesterkin picked up his fifth straight victory.
But the Rangers flexed on the Devils in more ways than one.
“It might’ve been one of our most physical games,” Laviolette said. “We’re putting it behind them and banging bodies.”
The Devils were on the power play for a staggering 11:52 of the 60-minute clash across the Hudson.
And yet, their 2019 first-overall pick, Jack Hughes, could not get on the board until the game was well out of hand.
Instead, it was the Rangers’ 2020 first-overall pick, Alexis Lafreniere, who put on the show with two goals.
“All over the place,” Mika Zibanejad, who opened the scoring with a power-play goal, said of Lafreniere.
The Rangers saw how this one was going to go and leaned into it wholeheartedly.
Less than three minutes into the game, Matt Rempe rammed Nathan Bastian along the boards on his first shift of the night, a hit which knocked the New Jersey forward down and broke his stick all in one motion. Bastian’s head took the brunt of the hit and that sent him straight to the locker room.
Jonas Siegenthaler took exception and immediately challenged Rempe, who only needed two punches to take the Devils’ defenseman down.
Rempe earned a roughing penalty and a match penalty, which ended the 6-foot-8 ½ forward’s night in just his third NHL game.
Devils fans in attendance rained boos down on Rempe, who then put his hand to his ear as he left the ice.
The home team let its frustrations dictate its play for the remainder of the game as Artemi Panarin racked up three assists and the visitor’s top-six combined for four five-on-five goals from Lafreniere, Chris Kreider and Vincent Trocheck.
Bastian returned to the game and Trouba welcomed him back with a wrecking-ball hit.
That only infuriated Bastian further as he chased Trouba down and instigated a fight by grabbing at the collar of the defenseman’s jersey.
“I think we can control how we play and the level of intensity we bring to the game,” Zibanejad said. “I thought they brought the same type of intensity. You want to keep going, you want to keep working on things, you want to keep the intensity up through every game. It’s not going to be like this every game, but we know what’s ahead.”
