Blanked to the brink, It’s on the Rangers stars to save the season

If there’s a lesson the New York Rangers should learn from game five, there’s a reason why the Stanley Cup playoffs emphasize will over skill. The mentality of the players and coaches changes, and so does the income. The league imposes no salary cap, and players’ yearly salaries are paid in full by the end of the regular season.

As these seven-game series wear on, the team with less finesse but more fitness has the better chance of emerging victorious because they’ve been playing that way since the ride began in October.

The latter is the New Jersey Devils, who have turned this Hudson River Rivalry upside down with their 4-0 thrashing of the Blueshirts on Thursday night in front of a raucous Prudential Center to take a 3-2 series lead.

The win allows them to complete the gentlemen’s sweep of their rivals on Saturday at 8 PM in game six at Madison Square Garden. A week ago, Devils fans left their home arena devastated. After compiling a franchise record 52 wins and 112 points in a surprising regular season, they’d been battered by the Blueshirts 5-1 in two straight games.

They were staring at the possibility of being swept out of the first round of the playoffs after waiting four seasons to get back there. That wouldn’t damper their future, of course. They have a budding young core led by captain Nico Hischier and superstar Jack Hughes, whose 99 points in the regular season set a franchise record. It would’ve been easy for them to give in to the Rangers’ skill and playoff experience.

Every move the front office made, highlighted by the acquisitions of Stanley Cup champions, albeit rental contracts and declining versions of Vladimir Tarasenko and Patrick Kane, showed they believed 2023 was their time to reach the top of the mountain. “The Devils’ time will come, but it’s not now,” a New Jersey fan said after game two. “I wasn’t confident entering this series because I knew what the Rangers had, and I don’t think we’re there yet.”

A week later, he couldn’t be more confident about what lies ahead and what’s in the present. “Tonight was New Jersey’s most comprehensive game. They can afford to sacrifice offense with the way they play. It’s playoff-style hockey, one that could go a long way.”

The Devils may have entered the series as the higher seed, but the pressure was on New York, who had their highly-paid stars in tow to pull through. But while they looked as if they’d embraced the time of year with blowout wins in the first two tilts, they’ve allowed themselves to be overwhelmed by the Devils and are 0-3 against rookie goaltender; Akira Schmid, who began the season in the AHL.

While he’s looked anything but a minor league netminder, posting a.975 save percentage since starting over Vitek Vanecek in game three, the Rangers have yet to do much to test the 22-year-old seriously. Trailing 3-0 entering the third period, you’d expect New York to give everything they had and fire shots from anywhere and everywhere toward the goal.

Yet when the final horn sounded, they’d been outshot 43-23 on the evening and 20-2 in the final stanza, with the lone tally of the frame being an Erik Haula empty-netter. “That’s not gonna cut it in probably any playoff series in this league,” forward Jimmy Vesey said. “Their goalie has been solid, but I don’t think he’s been tested enough. We have to find a way. That’s the bottom line.”

The bottom line is the team needs to admit to frustration and the need for adjustments. That’s what New Jersey did, and it’s worked. They’ve shown why they finished third overall in the regular season standings.

“At first, nerves and jitters got us, Devils coach Lindy Ruff said. “You go back to Game 1; we didn’t handle the puck well. We talked about relaxing, and If you look at our puck play tonight, if you look at our breakouts, I think it was one of our best games in a long time.”

Tactically, they’ve stuck to the transition style of play that got them here with a few minor tweaks to bulk up the defensive end. Instead of their 2-1-2 zone, they switched to a 1-2-2 and put an extra forward back to clog up the neutral zone and stop the Rangers puck carriers from getting past the blue line or completing a cross-ice pass.

When the Blueshirts tried to dump and chase, the Devils kept their forwards to the perimeter and cleared the slot. That’s an area where Schmid has struggled to corral pucks, and the Rangers ranked 27th in offensive production during the regular season.
“We were a little too one and done. Adam Fox said “They capitalized on chances. They were just a step ahead of us.”

Typically, a team that was shut out in their biggest game of the season would invoke words of anger and frustration into their postgame remarks. But not these Rangers, who spoke words of confidence as they looked toward game six, where they’ll face elimination. That’s because they’ve been here before.

Last year, they became the first team to rally down 3-1 in a series while also trailing in each elimination game, ousting the Pittsburgh Penguins in the first round. One series later, they overcame deficits of 2-0 and 3-2 to unseat the top-seeded Carolina Hurricanes, winning game seven 6-2, serving the Canes their first and only home loss of the postseason in eight contests.

“Got to win one game. Got to go home”, Chris Kreider told the New York Post. “We’ve had a terrific fan base all year; we let them, we let ourselves down at home. ”
“The playoffs are comprised of highs and lows, and we’re at a low point right now. If we can’t climb out of this, we don’t deserve to go on a deep run.”

If they want to earn a ticket on the next subway to a high point, the Rangers stars need to shine. Panarin is an $11.6 million player who, fresh off a 92-point season, has only two in this postseason. But as he showed by scoring the overtime winner in game seven against Pittsburgh last Spring, all you need is one all-time moment for people to forget you had one of the worst series of your career.

The $8.5 million Zibanejad paced the Blueshirts in the regular season with 39 goals yet hasn’t found the back of the twine in the postseason. Even former Conn Smyth winner Patrick Kane and Stanley Cup champion Vladimir Tarasenko, who both requested trades to Broadway at the deadline for possibly one last run at a Stanley Cup, must produce.

They met the moment in the first two games, as Tarasenko scored twice and Kane had three points in game two. But they’ve cooled since then. Kane was even demoted to the third line, on Thursday, while Kaapo Kakko replaced him on the second unit.

The Rangers will also need the “Kid Line”, comprising former first-overall pick Alexis Lafreniere, the freshly extended Filip Chytil, and the second-overall pick Kakko to finally convert on the abundance of scoring chances they’ve had in this series.

Then again, it may not matter if Schmid, who made 23 saves with a +2.46 Goals Saved Above Expected and recorded the first playoff shutout by a Devils goaltender since Martin Brodeur in 2012, continues to make acrobatic saves with his glove like he did robbing Kakko, in the first period.

Defensively, they’ll need a bone-crunching hit from their $8 million captain Jacob Trouba, and $9.5 million Adam Fox, a former Norris Trophy winner, to revive the offensive greatness that saw him record six assists in the first two games of the series.

“Gotta find a way to win Game 6,” Trouba told the Athletic. “That’s all there is at this point. It’s on to the next game. Find a way to win a game.”
“We’ve got to get pucks behind them. You can’t be stubborn with how you play. You have to play the game in front of you. You can’t force pucks at the blue line and red line and turn it over. That’s not a recipe to win against that team.”

Should they play the right way, reigning Vezina-winner Igor Shesterkin will take care of the rest. The goaltender made 39 saves in the loss, yelled at his bench to “Do your job,” and even recorded a shot on goal from 180 feet away. He did everything he could to keep this from being a massacre. The only one who responded was Barclay Goodrow, who dropped the gloves with Kevin Bahl in the second period.

“The effort’s there,” Gallant said. “We’ve been in this position before. See what we can do, go back home on Saturday, rally the troops, and get it going”.

In a Madison Square Garden ready to embrace the New York Knicks being in the second round for the first time in ten years on Sunday afternoon, the Rangers must show they still exist. They must show they possess the resilience, fight, and determination that New Yorkers are known for. Ultimately, they need to show why their mantra is theirs “No Quit In New York.”  So far, all we’ve learned is, theirs is No Quit In New Jersey.

BLS FAN COMMENT OF THE NIGHT:

“The forecheck that was so successful in the first two games was non-existent. When they gave up that first goal, they opened up and that is a death sentence against the Devils’ speed. They didn’t draw any penalties (only 2)…didn’t outwork them in the offensive zone. They need to make some changes and fast. They would have been better off playing the same defensive game they did in 3 & 4, allowing only two goals each game…then they get a break and can win a close game. But they are not giving Schmid anything to worry about.”-Steve Paulus

WHAT THEY SAID:

“It was a long, terrible road that led Devils fans here.

Now, the team is one win away from not only winning its first playoff round since 2012, but they are about to do it against the New York Rangers. In the time since the Devils beat the Rangers in that faithful series, the team wearing blue and white made it to another Conference Final and a Stanley Cup Final, told their fans they were going to rebuild, did it with quickness, and made it to yet another Eastern Conference Final last season. There’s been plenty of success at MSG over the past 10 years. That would make a Devils series win over the Rangers that much sweeter. It’s taken so long to get here. We don’t want to count our chickens before they hatch. Just a week ago, the Rangers had a 2-0 series lead. Just getting here has been so amazing. Now, it’s time to go back to Madison Square Garden to finish the job. -Nick Vilano, Pucks, And  Pitchforks.