Devils shut out Rangers, who lose ground in wild-card race

NEWARK, N.J. -- The New Jersey Devils scored a power-play goal, a short-handed goal and empty-net goal in a 4-0 win against the New York Rangers at Prudential Center on Saturday.

Timo Meier scored twice, Nico Hischier had a goal and two assists, and Jacob Markstrom made 26 saves for the Devils (41-29-7), who won their third straight game and moved within seven points of the Carolina Hurricanes for second place in the Metropolitan Division.

“Special teams have been good all year, but you have to come through in those important moments,” Meier said. “We did that tonight.”

Markstrom, who also shut out the Rangers here on Dec. 23, became the second goalie in franchise history with multiple shutouts against them in a season, joining Martin Brodeur, who did it in 2003-04.

It was Markstrom's fourth shutout of the season and first since returning from a knee injury on March 2 that caused him to miss 11 games.

“He made some great saves in crucial moments in the game,” said Hischier, the New Jersey captain. “I’m really happy for him and the work he’s done and now getting the shutout, we’re all really happy.”

Igor Shesterkin made 12 saves for the Rangers (36-33-7), who fell four points behind the Montreal Canadiens for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference.

“We control what we can control and go out there and try to win as many games as we can,” New York forward Vincent Trocheck said.

The game was 0-0 midway through the second period with the teams playing 5-on-5.

“On the bench, I felt it might take a power play to be the difference,” Devils coach Sheldon Keefe said, “but they got the first (power play) so we had to get it killed. Once we had [a power play], obviously, it didn’t take us long."

With Rangers forward Sam Carrick in the penalty box for interference, it took the Devils just four seconds to score.

Hischier won the face-off in the offensive zone clean to defenseman Luke Hughes, who fed Meier for a one-timer over Shesterkin’s glove at 10:56 to make it 1-0.

“Huge face-off win by Nico, great job by Luke to attack the middle of the ice and kind of freeze everyone and open up some space for Timo to rip it,” Keefe said.

New York then went back on the power play at 11:49, but New Jersey scored again, with Brenden Dillon springing a 2-on-1 with Hischier and Jesper Bratt, who scored at 12:23 to make it 2-0.

“A very nice pass from ‘Dilly,’ Hischier said. “He could’ve cleared it, but he sees ‘Bratter’ and we go away on a 2-on-1.”

It was the third short-handed goal the Rangers have allowed in their past four games.

“We’re looking for something offensively, maybe pressing too much,” New York coach Peter Laviolette said. “Any time you’re doing that, you’re subject to get caught the other way.”

Meier scored his second goal of the game and 24th of the season at 14:59 of the third period to make it a 3-0 game.

Hischier scored his team-leading 35th goal into an empty net on an assist from Bratt at 16:12 for the 4-0 final.

“It’s fun,” Markstrom said. “There are lot of Devils fans who work with Rangers fans and Islanders fans and they come in in their spare time and support us, so you want to give them some bragging rights.”

NOTES: It was the 120th and 121st time Bratt and Hischier factored into the same goal in their careers; that’s tied for 10th in Devils history with Patrik Elias and Jason Arnott, as well as Jack Hughes and Bratt. … Bratt ranks fourth with 67 assists this season and can become the second player in franchise history to finish a season in the NHL’s top five in assists, joining Scott Gomez, who tied for first (Martin St. Louis) in the NHL in 2003-04 with 56. … It’s the first time the Devils have shut out the Rangers in each home game in the regular season. … The 16 shots on goal allowed by New York tied for the fewest in a game this season. The Rangers allowed 16 in a 3-2 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Feb. 28.