NEWARK (Interstat) — Luke Hughes scored two goals, Nico Daws made 18 saves and the New Jersey Devils rolled past the New York Rangers 7-1 on Thursday at Prudential Center. Evan Rodrigues, Nico Hischier, Arseny Gritsyuk, Stefan Noesen and Cody Glass also scored for New Jersey, which improved to 4-3-0. The Rangers dropped to 6-3-0. Attendance was 16,527.

The Devils controlled the game from the late stages of the first period. After a physical opening in which the teams traded hits and faceoff wins, Evan Rodrigues broke through with 29.6 seconds left in the first period. His wrist shot beat Rangers goaltender Dylan Garand to give New Jersey a 1-0 lead. The goal came unassisted. It capped a first period that featured several scoring chances, including saves by Daws on Adam Fox and Oliver Bjorkstrand, and a Jack Hughes wrist shot that hit the left post. The Rangers had a brief fight between Will Cuylle and Johnathan Kovacevic, and penalties to Noah Laba, Marcus Pettersson and Jonas Siegenthaler broke up the flow. New Jersey’s Timo Meier and Nico Hischier set an early physical tone with hits, while Vladislav Gavrikov and Mika Zibanejad responded for New York. Nico Hischier won the opening faceoff against J.T. Miller, and Jack Hughes produced an early takeaway. Amadeus Lombardi had a wrist shot stopped by Garand. Jaroslav Chmelar hit Dawson Mercer, and Nico Hischier hit Oliver Bjorkstrand. Timo Meier and Dawson Mercer each had shots turned away by Garand. The Rangers killed an early New Jersey power play after Noah Laba’s slashing penalty and Marcus Pettersson’s holding penalty at 11:58 of the first. Jonas Siegenthaler went off for tripping at 14:37. Adam Fox, Oliver Bjorkstrand and Alberts Smits all tested Daws before Rodrigues scored.

New Jersey blew the game open in the second period. Luke Hughes scored 18 seconds into the period, with assists from Timo Meier and Brett Pesce, to make it 2-0. The Devils kept pressing. Nico Hischier scored at 8:08 from Meier and Dawson Mercer. Arseny Gritsyuk followed 31 seconds later from Jack Hughes and Dougie Hamilton. Luke Hughes then added his second goal of the game at 32:34, with Pesce and Amadeus Lombardi assisting. That gave New Jersey a 5-0 lead. The Rangers replaced Dylan Garand with Spencer Martin after the early barrage. Martin made several saves, but the Devils continued to generate chances. Daws was sharp when needed, stopping Pavel Dorofeyev and Alexis Lafrenière. New Jersey’s forecheck forced turnovers and limited New York’s time with the puck. Cody Glass won several faceoffs, and Evan Rodrigues was active on the forecheck. Brett Pesce blocked shots and helped spark the transition game. Luke Hughes hit Gabe Perreault, and Gabe Perreault returned the hit. Nico Hischier had two wrist shots go wide. Timo Meier had a shot blocked by Mika Zibanejad. After Gritsyuk’s goal, Noah Laba won a faceoff and hit Rodrigues. Stefan Noesen hit Alberts Smits. Anthony Mantha had takeaways, and Luke Hughes had a slap shot saved by Martin. The Devils’ defense blocked shots from Dorofeyev, and Daws stopped a wrist shot from Pavel Dorofeyev. Jesper Boqvist and Amadeus Lombardi also tested Martin.

The third period followed a similar pattern. Stefan Noesen scored at 21:01 from Lombardi and Rodrigues to push the lead to 6-0. New York finally broke through at 24:02 when Pavel Dorofeyev tipped in a shot from Adam Fox, with Alexis Lafrenière also assisting. But New Jersey answered late. Cody Glass scored at 42:54 from Mercer and Hamilton to restore the six-goal margin. Penalties piled up as the game wore on, including a holding call on Luke Hughes, a delaying-game penalty on Marcus Pettersson, a cross-checking call on Pettersson, an interference call on Johnathan Kovacevic, a misconduct on Lafrenière and an interference-keeper call on Timo Meier. Daws finished with 18 saves on 19 shots. Spencer Martin made several stops in relief, including saves on Luke Hughes, Dawson Mercer, Stefan Noesen and Evan Rodrigues. The Rangers had a late chance when Mika Zibanejad tipped a shot above the crossbar, and Adam Fox had a wrist shot saved by Daws. Tye Kartye had a wrist shot stopped by Daws, and Luke Hughes had a slap shot saved by Martin. The Devils kept the pressure on until the final horn.

Luke Hughes led the Devils with two goals, five shots on goal, two penalty minutes and one hit. Daws earned the win. Rodrigues had a goal and an assist. Hamilton and Mercer each had two assists. Pesce added two assists, two shots and three hits. Lombardi had two assists and two shots. Meier had two assists, two shots and two penalty minutes. Glass and Hischier each scored. For New York, Dorofeyev scored in the third period. Garand started in net before giving way to Martin. The Rangers had few answers for New Jersey’s speed through the neutral zone. New Jersey’s defensive corps blocked shots throughout, and the Devils won key faceoffs in each period. The Rangers were unable to generate sustained pressure after the first period.

The game was the first matchup of the season between the cross-Hudson River rivals. New Jersey’s victory snapped a brief skid and moved the Devils back to .500 in the early season. The Rangers had been off to a strong start but could not match New Jersey’s intensity after the first period. The Devils’ four-goal second period turned a tight game into a rout. New Jersey’s penalty kill also held up during a chippy third period. The Devils will next travel to Washington on Saturday. The Rangers will visit Columbus on Saturday.

Interstat’s game simulator had projected a final score of New Jersey 4, N.Y. Rangers 3. Interstat’s ELO system had projected N.Y. Rangers with a 50.7 percent probability to win. New Jersey had been installed as a pregame favorite with a spread of -1.5. The total score of 8 went under the over/under line of 6.