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Ruff night: Rangers beat Devils 5-1

By Peter Hassett

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April 20, 2023 10:19 pm

The New York Rangers trounced the New Jersey Devils to take a 2-0 lead in their quarterfinal series. I’m not sure what happened to the regular-season Devils, but these guys looked nothing them. (Note: I’ve adopted the Devils for the postseason. Maybe this was a mistake.)

Erik Haula got a rebound from the paint to give the Devils the lead early, but they gave up three goals in the second period: Tarasenko after a lot of lateral movement, then a pair of power-play goals from Chris Krieder. Patrick Kane stole the puck and carried it all the way to the Devils net to make it 4-1 in the third. Kaapo Kakko exploited some lateral movement to make it 5-1, and that was enough.

Rangers win. Rangers lead the series 2-0.

  • Devils coach Lindy Ruff made some bold lineup decisions before the game, scratching Jonas Siegenthaler for 34-year-old Brendan Smith, as well as sitting Adam Boqvist for Yegor Sherangovich. Let’s see how it paid off for them.
  • Badly! The Devils came out of the gates with a few good shifts, but the Rangers gradually locked up the neutral zone, controlling five-on-five play even better than they did in Game 1. Jersey’s fourth line was their best, but the first (Hischier) and third (Haula) got trounced. Trounced is a great word, as long as you’re not the one getting trounced.
  • Despite having trouble at even strength, Erik Haula scored a power play goal to give the Devils an early and temporary lead. Haula had also scored postseason goals for five other teams: Minnesota Wild, Vegas Golden Knights, Florida Panthers, Nashville Predators, and Boston Bruins.
  • Chris Krieder has been a tip-in machine for the Rangers, scoring two goals in this one to add to his two goals in Game 1. All four goals have been deflections.

  • After that miserable Game 1, I don’t think we can pin this one on Devils goalie Vitek Vanecek. I think he could have squared up better on the second Krieder goal, but we have to keep in mind how open New York’s offense was. Natural Stat Trick put the Rangers at 11 high-danger chances at last check. Still, his save percentage had to be somewhere under .850.
  • The Devils had a top-five penalty kill in the regular season, so where did that go? The Rangers seemed to generate scoring chances at will. Jonas Seigenthaler was a big minute-eater for them in the regular season (though I wouldn’t say he was their best killer). I guess I’m very eager to hear what Ruff says about scratching Siegenthaler. I imagine it’ll be along the lines of “we wanted more playoff experience.” Honestly, I don’t think Brendan Smith was particularly bad, aside from an unwise penalty early in the game. I’m just surprised Ruff didn’t want to go with what worked so well in the regular season.

  • I don’t like the guy, but I have to acknowledge Patrick Kane‘s excellent play to steal the puck and score – solo – in the third period.
  • With 6:40 left in the third period, we got a fight: McLeod vs Schneider. Everyone gathered around that fight who showed any aggression got assigned a game misconduct and immediately dismissed. It seems like the officials desperately wanted to avoid any late-game histrionics – but I think they got a little carried away. People don’t pay to see the refs.
  • Whatever Ruff’s plan was, he ripped it up and tossed it in the air in the third period, icing all new lines. In the meta-battle of him vs Rangers coach Gerard Gallant, Ruff comes out looking like Goofus.

No Joe B suit, naturally, but here’s some cat footage.

I gotta say it: I’m really disappointed in this team. I really liked how they played in the regular season, and I really like some names on their roster. One of those names was gone tonight, and how they played in the regular season was also gone. Without their ability to speed past center ice, the Devils didn’t seem to have a plan B. They better put their thinking caps on; they’re headed towards a sweep.

I probably should have adopted the Kraken, but their games are past my bedtime. Speaking of which: goodnight!

Headline photo: @JimBiringer

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