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Rangers hang on for 2-1 win over Devils

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Kevin Klein celebrates a goal to put the Rangers up 1-0 on the Devils.Andy Marlin/USA Today Sports

Kevin Klein celebrates a goal to put the Rangers up 1-0 on the Devils.

Alain Vigneault ripped the NHL on Monday morning and his Rangers edged the Devils at night. Their coach’s rant could draw a fine but the team’s mostly-smothering 2-1 win at the Garden – though it concluded with an unsettling finish – gave the Blueshirts their first three-game winning streak since Nov. 15.

Vigneault was red-hot that the league did not fine or suspend Flyers agitator Wayne Simmonds for Saturday’s sucker-punch of Rangers captain Ryan McDonagh, who has a concussion and no timetable for a return after missing Monday’s match – the first of 53 he’s missed all season.

“What I didn’t expect was the reaction from the league,” Vigneault said. “An All-Star player gets sucker-punched, goes down – I wonder if that’s (Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney) Crosby what happens, or what the consequence is?”

The NHL probably will fine Vigneault, whose comments add intrigue to an already anticipated Wednesday night visit to Pittsburgh. It will be the first of four meetings with Crosby’s Penguins, all carrying heavy playoff implications. The Pens (27-18-7, 61 points) have jumped the Islanders (60 points) into third place in the Metropolitan Division behind the second-place Rangers (30-18-5, 65 points).

Vigneault’s club, though, is riding Pittsburgh area native J.T. Miller’s scorching streak of nine goals in 10 games, his latest a five-hole finish off the rush past the Devils’ Cory Schneider at 4:37 of Monday’s third period that made it 2-0 and held up as the game-winner.

Henrik Lundqvist (27 saves) was under three minutes away from his third shutout of the season, the team’s fourth overall, and their first since Nov. 23. But Keith Yandle’s power-play turnover led to Devils center Travis Zajac’s shorthanded goal at 17:43 to ruin the clean sheet.

The Rangers still built their first three-game winning streak since Nov. 12-15, when they beat St. Louis at home, Ottawa on the road and Toronto at the Garden. Their power play, however, went 0-for-5 with a shorthanded goal against to slip to 2-for-49 in last 17 games.

Henrik Lundqvist makes one of his 27 saves on Monday night.Andy Marlin/USA Today Sports

Henrik Lundqvist makes one of his 27 saves on Monday night.

Unlike the Knicks’ Derek Fisher, Vigneault isn’t coaching for his job these days and doesn’t have to run the Triangle offense. But James Dolan was still four rows back in the stands Monday just hours after canning Fisher from his basketball bench, so the pressure’s always on when the Garden chairman is around.

The Rangers dominated puck possession most of the night against the fifth-place Devils (26-21-7, 59 points), whose jittery defense was an absolute disaster. Defenseman Kevin Klein, who is playing with a fractured right thumb, scored at 4:47 of the second period to open scoring off a great feed from Mats Zuccarello.

Marc Staal, Derick Brassard and Jesper Fast also had assists, and the Rangers held on for dear life in the final minutes with Schneider pulled from his net and the Devils pressing.

Vigneault has no idea how long McDonagh will be sidelined. He started right-handed rookie Dylan McIlrath as his sixth defenseman Monday but could call up a lefty to replace McDonagh later this week.

The injury news is bad all around for the Rangers. Rick Nash (left leg bone bruise) has backed off his rehabilitation schedule and stayed off the ice Monday for a third straight day because the Rangers “didn’t see the progression that we thought we would see,” per the coach. So Nash sat out his sixth straight game Monday and is doubtful to make the trip to Pittsburgh.

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