Even with three of their best players out of the lineup, the New York Rangers were supposed to be the better team Tuesday night.
There were stretches when they looked like it, but not nearly enough.
The New Jersey Devils, who hadn't played in more than two weeks due to a COVID-19 outbreak and only had one practice to prepare, were the sharper team.
They handed the Rangers their fourth consecutive loss, a 5-2 result at Madison Square Garden that dropped the Blueshirts to 4-7-3 at the quarter pole of the shortened season.
Rather than showing rust after the long layoff, the Devils (5-3-2) looked well-rested. Meanwhile, the Rangers — who were playing without forwards Artemi Panarin and Filip Chytil and rookie defenseman K'Andre Miller — sandwiched one good period in between two poor ones.
New Jersey dominated play in the first period, but came away with nothing to show for it thanks to Igor Shesterkin.
Making his sixth start in the last eight games, the 25-year-old looked as locked in as he has all year in the opening period, making 16 saves — with a handful coming from close range and with a high level of difficulty.
The Rangers went from sluggish to active in the second period, responding each time the Devils scored.
New Jersey's first goal came from Pavel Zacha on a power play, which snapped a seven-game streak of 22 consecutive penalties killed for the Rangers.
Less than four minutes later, with 11:37 elapsed in the second period, the Rangers finally ended their scoring drought. They had scored just twice in the previous three games, including two shutouts, and it was an unexpected player who snapped them out of it.
Colin Blackwell scooped up a no-look pass from Brett Howden and fired a wrist shot past Mackenzie Blackwood's glove hand to make it 1-1.
It was Blackwell's second goal and fourth point in six games played.
The 27-year-old journeyman began the game on the top line with Chris Kreider and Mika Zibanejad, but by the time he scored, he was on the third line. That's because Pavel Buchnevich responded to his pregame demotion with a motivated effort
Shortly after a Will Butcher shot deflected in off Jacob Trouba to put the Devils back ahead, 2-1, with less than three minutes to play in second period, Buchnevich made a key play to tie the score at 2-2.
Reunited with familiar linemates, the 25-year-old reeled in a cross-ice pass from Kreider and snuck a wrist shot under Blackwood's arm with 33 seconds remaining in the period.
After being outshot by a 16-9 margin in the first period, the Rangers won the shot battle by the same tally in the second.
Several of those chances were produced by the new-look second line of rookie Alexis Lafrenière, Ryan Strome and Kaapo Kakko. It was their second consecutive game together, which was necessitated by Panarin missing the last two games with a lower-body injury. But there's a case to keep them together even after Panarin returns.
Kakko, in particular, was a relentless presence all over the ice. He tied for the team lead with four shots on goal (and had two other attempts blocked) and made a handful of noticeable defensive plays. The 20-year-old has been stuck on three points (two goals and one assist) for four straight games, but there are clear signs he's trending up.
Despite positive signs from players such as Kakko and Buchnevich, the Rangers fell flat in the third period.
The Devils sealed the win with goals from Yegor Sharangovich, Nicholas Merkley and Mikhail Maltsev leaving the Rangers to continue licking their wounds.
Trouba did not play in the final period due to an upper-body injury.
