The NY Rangers, in recent seasons, have mostly dominated the New Jersey Devils, their rivals across the Hudson. Oh, how times have quickly changed.
The Rangers lost to the Devils 5-3 last night in a showcase highlighting why both teams are currently heading in opposite directions.
The Blueshirts stormed out of the gate, scoring two goals in the first 3+ minutes. However, their penchant for blowing multi-goal leads this season cropped up reasonably quickly, and they never truly recovered until late into the game. The Devils found their footing and proved too fast and too opportunistic, making the Rangers look slow and disjointed, as they have too many times this season.
That didn’t appear to be the case with how their game started. The Rangers came out flying and were rewarded with a much-needed goal from Artemi Panarin off a beautiful pass from new linemate Filip Chytil on a two-on-one. The team seemed to feed off that goal, and the crowd’s energy as the Rangers kept up their assault and swept another goal off a lousy rebound left in the crease by the Devils’ goalie, Vitak Vanecek.
The Garden was rocking, and though early, there was a sense that seeing their successful rivals in the building was the spark the Rangers needed to get going. That feeling quickly dissipated, though, as the Devils began to display the style that has made them one of the surprise powerhouses of the season so far. Sure enough, Tomas Tatar soon swept a backhand over Igor’s shoulder to cut the lead to 2-1. After that, the tension returned to MSG (probably not for the significant amount of Devils’ fans in the building), and NJ never looked back.
Six minutes later, Yegor Sharangovich took advantage of one of the many turnovers by the Rangers, parked in front of the net, spun around, and got another one by Igor to tie the game at 2.
The 2nd period only further reinforced the current chasm between these two teams. Jack Hughes got sprung on a partial breakaway, and even with a defender all over him, he somehow easily tapped in the puck through Igor’s pads for the go-ahead goal. It was not a great night for Shesterkin (who was accountable and despondent after the game), and this was probably the low point.
As usual, though, he wasn’t exactly helped by his defense. Another rush by the Devils led to Miles Wood ripping one off the crossbar, with Michael McLeod sitting there and winning his battle with the defender to sweep in the rebound for a 4-2 lead.
The Rangers did seem to wake up in the 3rd, outshooting the Devils by a significant margin. This total was buoyed by being rewarded with three power plays, finally cashing in with a Vincent Trocheck power-play goal on a rebound with 6:42 left to make it 4-3.
However, it proved too little too late, as the Rangers failed to convert again, even with some sustained pressure, as the Devils iced the game with a late empty-net goal.
The Devils built on their scintillating start as they improved to 19-4, while the Rangers’ woes only continued to mount. Every bad habit that has plagued them during this disappointing stretch was displayed last night. Time and time again, there is a lack of consistent scoring and speed in congruence with turnovers and defensive lapses. Factoring that Igor has not been as sharp as his Vezina season last year, it leads to another lackluster loss that still has this team looking for answers on how to right the ship.
