Rangers can't solve Devils rookie goalie Akira Schmid in OT loss, still hold 2-1 series lead
Put away the brooms. There won’t be a sweep in this first-round playoff series between the Rangers and Devils.
What looked to be a mismatch after the first two games in New Jersey turned into a series Saturday night at Madison Square Garden when Devils defenseman Dougie Hamilton scored 11:36 into overtime to give the Devils a 2-1 victory over the Rangers.
The Rangers still lead 2-1 in the best-of-seven series. Game 4 is Monday night at the Garden.
“Really, the last two games they played well,’’ Rangers coach Gerard Gallant said of the Devils. “The five goals we got on them the other night [in Thursday’s 5-1 win], it wasn’t that [kind of] game. I thought they played hard, they played well. And tonight they played real well. They came in here and skated well and play a hard game. And again, it was a coin toss. It’s overtime, and both teams played well.’’
Devils coach Lindy Ruff pulled out a few stops for Game 3, his boldest move being a change of goaltenders. He started 22-year-old rookie Akira Schmid in place of Vitek Vanecek, and Schmid, who had only 24 games of NHL experience before Saturday, made 35 saves to keep the Devils in it.
“I don’t think we did a good job of getting on the inside as we did the last couple games,’’ said Chris Kreider, who scored at 3:39 of the second period to give the Rangers a 1-0 lead.
“Early on, we weren’t willing to shoot as often as we did [in New Jersey]. As the game went on, we got better, but the goalie started seeing the puck by then. I thought we had a good approach the last two games, getting pucks and bodies to the net early. And I thought that was on and off tonight.’’
The Rangers’ power play, which had struck for four goals in 10 opportunities in the first two games, struggled in this one, going 0-for-5.
“They did an excellent job adjusting to our power play tonight,’’ Gallant said. “I thought the first one was real good. We had some real good looks. And after that . . . it wasn’t as clean. Our execution wasn’t as good tonight in the game as it was the other two nights. And that was the biggest difference.’’
Kreider, who had scored two power-play goals in both Games 1 and 2, got his fifth goal of the series, this one at even strength. But the Devils’ Jack Hughes tied the score with a power-play goal at 10:37 of the second.
Hughes’ goal came as a result of some chippy play in the middle of the period that started when the Devils’ Timo Meier, who was something of a thorn in the Rangers’ side the entire night, was pushed down onto the ice and into the Rangers’ net by Braden Schneider.
In the overtime, the game went back and forth with good chances at both ends.
Then Jesper Bratt took a pass from Nico Hischier, entered the Rangers’ zone, cut across the slot, wheeled and threw a pass to Hamilton driving into the right circle. Hamilton received the pass and lifted a wrist shot over Igor Shesterkin’s glove for the game-winner.
In NHL history, teams winning Game 3 in a best-of-seven series after losing the first two games have won 50 of 193 series (25.9%). Teams that lost the first two games at home and won Game 3 on the road have won 19 of 50 series (38%). One of those teams was the Tampa Bay Lightning, who did it in the Eastern Conference final last season against the Rangers.
But Rangers forward Barclay Goodrow wasn’t fazed by the loss.
“We’re still in a great spot,’’ Goodrow said. “Obviously, we would have loved to win tonight, but realistically, we’re still leading the series and still have a home game on Monday. So we’ll just get some rest and try to get back to the level of play we were at for Game 1 and Game 2.’’
Notes & quotes: Shesterkin made 26 saves and also had a roughing penalty . . . Kreider is the first
player in Rangers history to have at least five goals in the first three games of a playoff year . . . Jacob Trouba led the Rangers with seven of their 23 hits . . . Adam Fox had a team-high 28:03 of ice time with three shots . . . Filip Chytil won 10 of 13 faceoffs for the second time in this series.
Colin Stephenson covers the Rangers for Newsday. He has spent more than two decades covering the NHL and just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
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