Entering into Friday night’s contest, the New Jersey Devils were 0-2-2 against the New York Rangers. The Devils have not been able to defeat their New York rivals, the Islanders or the Rangers, this season. Friday night was no different as the Devils dropped their fifth straight loss to the Rangers, 3-1.

Friday’s game was an important night for two New York Rangers who were on the brink of obtaining their 500th career NHL point. Chris Drury and Scott Gomez both tallied their 500th career point against the New Jersey Devils Friday night. Of note, Gomez spent his entire NHL career with the New Jersey Devils, a total of seven seasons, until this season when he signed with the New York Rangers in the off-season.

In the first period, Rangers’ rookie Brandon Dubinsky capitalized on a bad turnover from Colin White. With some quick maneuvering, he hustled down into the Devils zone, fired a slap-shot past a surprised Martin Brodeur, and scored the first goal of the game unassisted at 4:00.

In the middle stanza, with White in the penalty box for slashing, Drury tallied his first of two power play goals at 2:06, his 14th of the season, assisted by Gomez. The assist by Gomez marked his 500th career NHL point. At 5:48, the Devils were finally able to get on the scoreboard with a wrist-shot goal from Zach Parise, his 19th of the season.

With just 8.9 seconds left in the period, Vitaly Vishnevski brought Ryan Hollweg down as he slammed him into the boards. Both teams got involved in a scruff before they were broken up by the linesmen. After the buzzer rang, Vishnevski and Hollweg found each other again. This time, Blair Betts grabbed Vishnevski and Brian Gionta went after Hollweg. Brodeur received a few fists to the face after he was caught between Gionta and Hollweg inside the net.

The third period commenced with Hollweg and Vishnevski in the penalty box for roughing at the 20:00 mark in the second stanza. Even though the Devils outshot the Rangers 34-26, they were not able to match the Rangers’ second goal. Brodeur was pulled as the final seconds wound down in regulation during a Rangers’ power play. Drury found the puck and raced down into the Devils zone. With just 3.7 seconds left in the game, he launched the puck into the empty net, notching his 500th career NHL point.

"We didn't score enough goals," Devils coach Brent Sutter said of the Devils’ fifth straight loss to the Rangers. "When you score only one it's difficult to win a game. I thought we did a lot of good things in our own zone. It was probably one of the better games we've had in the past five or six."

After Friday night’s loss, the Devils dropped into third place in the Atlantic Division as the Rangers advanced into fourth place, with just one point separating the two rivals. The Devils host the L.A. Kings Saturday night in Prudential Center at 7:00 p.m.