NEWARK, N.J. _ Maybe the Rangers really are that bad this season or maybe the Devils really are that good. It appears to be the latter because good teams show up when it matters and the Devils did exactly that Tuesday night in front of a sellout crowd at Prudential Center in a 5-2 win over their area rivals.
The Devils (43-28-9, 95 points) leaped over the Philadelphia Flyers, who lost 5-4 to the Islanders, to take over the top spot in the Eastern Conference wild-card standings, but were still waiting on the result of the game between the Florida Panthers and the Nashville Predators at the conclusion of their own game. If Florida loses in regulation, the Devils can officially clinch.
But they went into the locker room to wait knowing they did everything in their power to earn their first Stanley Cup Playoff berth since 2012.
Taylor Hall fueled the Hart Trophy fire with his second four-point game of the season and the sixth of his career, scoring two goals (one penalty shot) and assisting on two. Hall extended his point streak to 10 games and now has 91 on the season. He also set a new career-high with 54 assists.
And he still has two more games to play in the regular season.
Will Butcher scored two power-play goals and Travis Zajac scored in a dominant offensive showing.
But this game wasn't purely offensive. It's tough to identify one key element of their game that led them to victory. The Devils executed in all zones and all facets. They played fast, strong and smart. They stayed out of the box and capitalized when the Rangers didn't do the same, going 3-fox-4 on the power play.
Goalie Keith Kinkaid didn't have a ton of work but stopped 22 of 24 shots.
As if the shot totals weren't glaring enough, Hall's penalty shot in the second period made a statement of sorts. Hooked on a breakaway, he lost the handle and slid to the back boards before the official blew the whistle on Brady Skjei to award Hall the shot, which was a no-doubter from the start. He sniped one top shelf from the high slot to give the Devils a commanding 5-1 lead at 15:45.
Butcher made it 4-1 at 6:53 with his second power-play goal of the night, scoring on a point shot through traffic off a feed from Hall. He scored his first in a similar manor, rocketing a one-timer from the point and banking it off the post at 10:40 in the first period giving the Devils a 3-0 lead.
The Devils wasted no time in the first period, scoring in the first minute and applying heavy, steady pressure on the Rangers throughout.
Just 25 seconds into play, Blake Coleman got Rangers' goalie Henrik Lundqvist to dive on a shot, but he dove right over it and the puck came to rest right on the doorstep at the corner of the crease. From behind the net, Zajac hooked it into the net. It was a tough angle but a wide-open net helped, and just like that, the Devils were off to a fast 1-0 start in the biggest game they've played thus far.
Hall's power-play goal came just a few minutes later and was unassisted and Butcher's goal gave the Rangers a steep hill to climb.
Ryan Spooner cut the deficit to two goals late in the first period when he tipped in a pass from Jimmy Vesey with 2:13 left in the period. But the Rangers would come no closer. They managed only seven shots in each of the first two periods and were stuck in their own end most of the game.
Kevin Hayes scored off a turnover with 5:34 left to play but that was all the Rangers could manage.
The Devils looked like a playoff team and played with playoff-like intensity. The last time they won more than 40 games, they went to the Stanley Cup Final. All signs point to postseason.
