I don’t know the geography of the metro area, but I assume the series between the New Jersey Devils and New York Rangers crossed some body of water on its way to Madison Square Garden for Game 3 on Saturday night. (Note: I’m covering the Devils in these playoffs because I make poor choices and now I have to suffer the consequences.)
Chris Kreider continued his absurd playoff run with a two-on-one goal in the second period. Jack Hughes used a nasty shot on the power play to tie it up. A scoreless third period meant we got free playoff overtime hockey. That’s when Dougie Hamilton became the hero, taking a pass from Bratt to win it.
Devils win! Rangers lead the series 2-1.
- So every game today has gone to overtime so far. I hope Seattle-Colorado gets you to bed at a reasonable hour.
- Timo Meier had a tough night. First he blocked a shot off his boot, then he got shouldered in the chin by Goodrow, then he got cross-checked and roughed by Shesterkin and Panarin (which maybe he deserved for crashing the net).
- Vitek Vanecek took a seat as 22-year-old rookie Akira Schmid started for the Devils. We are very confident he is named after the anime, which I have not watched in like 20 years, so I’m due and so are you. Benching VV seems like right move – he had allowed 9 goals on 5.75 xG.
- At the end of regulation, Schmid had saved 2.19 goals above expected, roughly keeping pace with Shesterkin in all situations, so that’s a very positive report.
- Chris Krieder has been the league’s best playoff performer so far. His breakaway goal (which possibly was made possible by some un-called Tarasenko slashes) was his fifth of the loffs. Loffs, loffs, loffs. I will never stop. You can’t stop me. Loffs.
One of the best two-way players in the #NHL goes stick on stick twice and create a two on one with Kreider scoring. Devils fan think it's a penalty. #NYR #NJDevils https://t.co/8p02Zg5aJH pic.twitter.com/ndiKOpEfBh
— David 🏒 (@DaveyUpper) April 23, 2023
- Loffs.
- New Jersey’s fourth line got wrecked again – they were outshot 8 to 1 when Curtis Lazar was on the ice – so Ruff appeared to shorten the bench. Lazar played just four shifts after the second period. The lack of depth is hurting.
- The Devils had trouble in Games 1 and 2 on the penalty kill, so in this one they still committed a lot of penalties, plus they did it in the attacking zone. I guess that’s one problem I can’t hang around Lindy Ruff‘s neck.
- Still, this feels like a tremendous failure by the Devils head coach. His team did a lot better on defense compared to the first two games, but their league-best rush offense is still missing. You all know I’m a dilettante about tactics, but the Rangers defanged the Devils between the blue lines.
- And even New Jersey’s improvement waned as the game went on. The Rangers had stronger shot quality in the second and they out-chanced the Devils in the third period. The Devils put more pressure on Shesterkin than the Rangers did on Schmid, but the overall flow of play was mixed.
this is also how i have been watching the devils pic.twitter.com/9EKs3oBB7H
— mol 🧸 (@molfully) April 23, 2023
A happy ending, but by now it’s abundantly clear that I picked a bad team to adopt. The Devils of mid April are not remotely as fun as the Devils of October or November or February or March. Meanwhile, the Toronto-Tampa series is full of scandal and intrigue and fun.
I’m sure there’s something one could say about the types of teams that are not fit for playoff hockey. That’s generally said about one type of team that flames out but not said about the many more staid teams that lose every year. I don’t mean that to say “fun rush hockey” is or is not playoff-viable; I’m just saying I don’t think three boring games are convincing evidence of it.
I’m not sure the Devils are all that committed to playing their style of hockey. When they did try it, they won the game.
Headline photo: @WeBleedBlueNYC
