Rangers steamrolled by Devils in Game 5, trail 3-2 in series

NEWARK — This is not what the Rangers expected after they won the first two games of their first-round playoff series on the road against the Devils in dominant fashion last week.

But the Blueshirts are now one loss away from being eliminated after they were soundly beaten, 4-0, by the Devils in Game 5 Thursday night at Prudential Center.

The Devils took a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven series. Game 6 is Saturday night at Madison Square Garden.

Ondrej Palat’s unassisted goal 39 seconds into the game and second-period goals by Erik Haula and Dawson Mercer provided the offense, and rookie goalie Akira Schmid made 23 saves to earn his third straight win and first career playoff shutout.

“The script was flipped from the first couple of games,’’ Rangers forward Chris Kreider said. “They won the special teams battle. They clogged up the neutral zone, and it resulted in a lopsided victory. So, we’ve got to win one game here. Win one game at home.’’

In a best-of-seven series tied at two games apiece, the team winning Game 5 has gone on to win the series 224 of 285 times (78.6%).

The Devils took the lead in the first minute and stunned the Rangers on a fluky goal by Palat. Vincent Trocheck, a righthander taking a defensive-zone faceoff in the left circle, won the faceoff cleanly against Jack Hughes, but drew the puck back, forcing goaltender Igor Shesterkin to make a pad save. It kicked out to Palat, whose shot hit Adam Fox’s stick and popped over Shesterkin and into the net for Palat’s second goal of the series.

“Obviously the first goal is always big, and yeah it was fluky, but I think we tried to rebound,’’ Fox said. “But they did a good job clogging up the neutral zone [and] we just didn’t generate enough.

“I mean they just played better than us. It just wasn’t good enough. So we’ve got to win a Game 6 to keep the series alive.’’

The Rangers, who scored four power-play goals in 10 chances in the first two games, went 0-for-2 on the power play and allowed a shorthanded goal. They are 0-for-10 in the last three games and 0-for-their-last-13 with the man advantage.

The Devils went 1-for-5 on the power play.

Coach Gerard Gallant, who had been so annoyed with his team’s effort after the 3-1 loss in Game 4, said he was not displeased with the effort this time around.

“I thought we played a lot harder than we did the other night, but we couldn’t find a way to get a goal,’’ he said. “We had some traffic and I thought the goalie played really well for them tonight. Our goalie was excellent, too. But I thought Schmid was really good.’’

Schmid was good when he had to be, but the Rangers clearly were frustrated by having 24 shot attempts blocked, the most by far in any game of this series.

Ironically, Shesterkin had no problem getting a shot on goal when he fired a puck down the ice in the second period with the Rangers trailing 2-0. The long shot landed inside the Devils' zone and on net. Schmid saved it and had to cover it with 12:43 left. Shesterkin was credited with one of the Rangers' 23 shots. 

Shesterkin also was superb while stopping 39 of 42 shots to keep the Rangers close for a while. Many of the saves he made were from point-blank range. He stopped all 19 shots he faced in the third when the Rangers were under siege.

After taking the early 1-0 lead, the Devils seemed to have a slight edge in the play for the rest of the first period, outshooting the Rangers 10-8. But in the second period, they took control.

First, with one second left on a Patrick Kane hooking penalty, Mercer fired a turnaround shot from the slot that Haula, standing in front, got a stick on, changing the direction and speed enough to get it to slither through Shesterkin's pads for a 2-0 lead at 3:27.

Then, after the Rangers’ Barclay Goodrow and the Devils’ Kevin Bahl dropped the gloves, New Jersey’s Damon Severson was called for unsportsmanlike conduct, giving the Rangers their second power play at 12:04. But it was the Devils who scored when Artemi Panarin was unable to control Fox’s cross-ice pass and fumbled it away. Haula jumped on the loose puck and broke out on a two-on-one with Mercer.

Haula passed to Mercer, who blasted a one-timer past Shesterkin for the shorthanded goal to put the Devils up 3-0 at 13:32. It was Mercer's first career playoff goal.

Haula added a second goal, into an empty net after Shesterkin was lifted for an extra skater, at 14:48 of the third period to make it 4-0.

By Colin Stephenson

colin.stephenson@newsday.comColinSNewsday

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.