Patrick Kane had a goal and two assists as the New York Rangers defeated the New Jersey Devils 5-1 for a second straight game at the Prudential Center.

For Kane, it was his first goal in the Stanley Cup playoffs since being acquired by New York in a three-team trade with Chicago on February 28th.

"It's special", he said. "These are the moments you come to New York. ... for a situation like this. There's going to be moments in the playoffs where you're called on to step up and try to produce.

"It was nice to do that tonight. It makes it all worth it."

Chris Kreider scored twice on the power-play, Adam Fox had two assists to take his total to six for the series and Igor Shesterkin made 22 saves for the Rangers.

Game 3 is Saturday night at Madison Square Garden. Even though New York looks to be in control of the series, head coach Gerard Gallant isn't taking anything for granted.

"It's nice coming out of here 2-0, but we know it's far from over", he said. "We've been in this situation before. You've got to keep playing it one game at a time."

Erik Haula had New Jersey's only goal and Vitek Vanacek stopped 25 shots. 

"The team has always been up for an incredible challenge and they're going to battle until the bitter end", said Devils head coach Lindy Ruff. 

"They're facing some veteran players that have been through wars ... but this group has a lot of heart. They've got a lot of desire."

Haula put New Jersey in front with 8:16 left in the first period, backhanding a loose puck in the crease past Shesterkin with the Devils on the power play.

New York answered by scoring three times on nine second-period shots.

Vladamir Tarasenko tied the game on a wrist shot from the high slot with Vincent Trocheck setting a screen in front, Kreider deflected a point shot by Kane to make it 2-1 and tipped in Kane's pass at the right post.

"[Krieder's] able to get his stick on everything", Kane said. "In practice, we do a lot of drills where shots are coming from the point and he tips everything. It's tough to cover that on a power play."

Kane pushed it to a 4-1 lead for the Rangers as he broke down the left, cut across the crease and lifted the puck over Vanacek's arm for his first goal since August of 2020.

"I just kind of picked the pocket of [Jesper Bratt] and pushed the puck ahead", he said. "It seemed I had a step on their defenseman and Kreider and I were going down on a 2-on-0.

"I was looking to pass to him but they kind of took him away, so I thought i'd take it to the net. It was nice to see it go in."

Kane had his ninth career three-point playoff game, tying him with Chris Chelios for fourth-most in NHL history by a United States-born player. Only Kevin Stevens (13), Craig Janney (11) and Joe Pavelski (10) have more.

"Just the way he carries himself, his presence, just seeing how he works and takes care of himself, there's a reason he's the player he is and he's had the career he's had to this point", said New York captain Jacob Trouba.

Kaapo Kakko completed the scoring on a one-timer in the slot after a pass from Filip Chytl from behind the net.

"A lot of it is our game ... we have to focus on ourselves", said New Jersey center Jack Hughes. "They're a good team, so we're just not playing up to our standard and it's biting us in the [rear] right now."