The New York Rangers kept their season alive with a 5-2 victory over the New Jersey Devils in Game 6 of their Eastern Conference First Round series at Madison Square Garden.

With the series tied 3-3, Game 7 is set for Monday night in Newark with the winner advancing to the Eastern Conference Semifinals to face Carolina.

"Backs against the wall, you're going to leave it out there", said New York defenseman Adam Fox. "No one wants the season to end. I think we maybe rode our high a little too high for the first two games and understood that we have a lot better in here.

"We were able to get into this Game 7, and we're excited for it."

Chris Kreider had a three-point night with a goal and two assists, Mika Zibanejad and Vladimir Tarasenko had a goal and an assist, and Fox had two assists for the Rangers. Igor Shesterkin made 34 saves.

Curtis Lazar and Dawson Mercer had New Jersey's goals while Akira Schmid, who lost for the first time in the series, allowed five goals on 29 shots before being replaced by Vitek Vanacek, who didn't face a shot.

"What a game to be in", said Devils head coach Lindy Ruff. "Where would you rather be, playing at home in front of your fans? Game 7 is something that if you're a little kid growing up, you're going to sit there and go man, i'd love to play in that game.

"We've worked hard all year to get to this point. I know that team that's in that locker room is going to give me everything they've got."

Rangers finish strong to force Game 7

Lazar put New Jersey in front 1-0 with 8:11 left in the first period, converting on a rebound of a shot from Kevin Bahl off of the left pad of Shesterkin.

Kreider tied the game with 25 seconds left as Zibanejad's one-timer from the left point deflected in off his leg for his fifth power-play goal of the series.

Zibanejad then gave the Rangers a 2-1 lead with 9:50 remaining in the second period. Kreider picked up the puck behind the net and found Zibanejad with a backhand pass, who beat Schmid glove side from the slot.

"I can sit her and lie and say it wasn't a good feeling seeing the puck go in", Zibanejad said. "The wins are all that matters. We got the win that we needed and wanted tonight. Now we just keep going."

Tarasenko extended the lead to 3-1 with 1:35 left in the middle period, going glove side from the high slot after Kreider won a puck battle against Michael McLeod. 

Barclay Goodrow put the game out of reach with 12:37 to go in the game, batting in the rebound of Jimmy Vesey's shot on a 2-on-1.

Braden Schneider then scored New York's final goal and his first career playoff goal to make it 5-1.

Schmid was pulled at that point. Since replacing Vanacek for Game 3, the rookie goaltender went 3-0 with a .976 save percentage.

"When your backs are against the wall, you play your best game, and I thought they did tonight", said New York head coach Gerard Gallant. "We talked about getting hungry and getting into the blue paint.

"That was the biggest thing we talked about before the game. We didn't get there enough. Tonight, we got there. We got some opportunities and things worked for us."

Mercer scored a power-play goal for the 5-2 final.

"It [stinks] right now, but I think the effort was there and we had to take a little bit more risk in the third period, so gave up a couple 2-on-1s", said New Jersey captain Nico Hischier.

"I don't think it was a bad game at all, and (we) got to take the good things out of here and see these guys in Newark. The battle level was there. It was just a couple D-zone mistakes we made that ended up in the back of our net."