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Playoff Vitek returns: Rangers beat Devils 5-1

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The New Jersey Devils played their first postseason game since 2018, and it was awful. (Note: I’ve adopted the Devils for the postseason. It’s a bit. Mostly.)

Vladimir Tarasenko scored five minutes into the game as Jonas Siegenthaler got out-muscled. Chris Krieder deflected a shot from Adam Fox to make it 2-0 after one period. The Devils dominated the second period but couldn’t convert – not the case for Ryan Lindgren, who beat Vitek Vanecek up high.

Halfway into the third period, Chris Kreider did it again, deflecting Fox’s shot. Jack Hughes notched his first career postseason point with a penalty shot of all things, but that was all the scoring they could muster. The Rangers got the empty-netter, and that was that.

Rangers beat Devils 5-1. Rangers lead the series 1-0.

  • The Devils simply looked unprepared for the first fifteen minutes of loffs hockey. They’re supposed to be fast, but the Rangers were faster. They’re supposed to be a rush team, but the Rangers choked them up. In a bad start like that, you really need your goalie to step up.
  • Vitek Vanecek did not step up. He allowed a goal on the second shot he faced on the night, which admittedly was a good one from Tarasenko. He didn’t really get embarrassed until known-goal-scorer Ryan Lindgren zipped one over his shoulder in the second period. VV must not have expected him to go high there.

  • (Known-goal-scorer Ryan Lindgren scored one goal in 63 rego-season games.)
  • Consulting the Momcorp out-of-town scoreboard, we see another ex-Caps goalie had a similarly undignified night. Toronto’s Ilya Samsonov allowed three goals on the first 15 shots he faced. Vanecek allowed the same number of goals on the same number of shots. Let’s not rush to vindicate the Washington front office; let’s just be a bit amused and maybe a little smug about the proceedings.
  • The Devils looked way better in the second period than they did in the first, controlling 78 percent of the expected goals. They brought Erik Haula up to the top line and sent Nico Hischier down to the bottom six, but I’m not going to pretend like I know what that means. You would see right through me, and we both know it. Ruff still used Hischier a ton, so I don’t think of it as a demotion per se. Anyway, for all that dominance, the Devils couldn’t beat Rangers goalie Igor Shesterkin until Hughe’s penalty shot with three minute left.
  • Without generating a lot of shots right after gaining the offensive zone, the Devils had to rely on zone time to get chances, which the Rangers couldn’t muster. Looking at the play-by-play report, they tended to make one or two attempts and then lose the zone. Credit, I suppose to New York’s defense, which candidly I didn’t think much of in the regular seson.
  • Chris Kreider became the Rangers franchise leader in goals with 36. I’m mostly surprised the record, held by a fellow named Rod Gilbert, was so low.
  • K’Andre Miller briefly left the game about halfway into the third after Miles Wood fed him his stick. He came back.

Obviously we’re not going to have any Joe B suits unless he DMs me, so here’s the jackets the Devils wives and girlfriends were wearing. Incredible look.

The idea is that the ice shrinks in the playoffs, that everyone plays tighter, so maybe the aggressive rush style of the Devils wouldn’t translate well. I’ve never been too sure about the conventional wisdom there, and I don’t want to jump to a conclusion about New Jersey’s postseason, but I can see the point. I’m thinking back to that Kings team of the early 2010s that won the Cup by dumping and cycling like a dude with IBS riding a penny farthing. The Devils certainly aren’t that team, but that doesn’t mean they can’t still be viable. Just not tonight.

Game Two is Thursday night.

Headline photo: @JulianColtre

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