This one may have told you more about the Devils than the Rangers. And what he told you was that the Devils aren’t going any more in the second half of the season than they did in the second half of the Battle of the Hudson. Saturday in Newark.
Because while it was 3-1 for the Blueshirts at 13:15 of the second period, the Devils refused to give in a game where they had been regularly blocked by a Igor Shesterkin celebrating the third anniversary of his NHL debut. Instead, they got stronger.
They initiated and executed play against a Rangers side that didn’t quite go into a shell, but played more conservatively than necessary. There were two goals to tie in 2:04 midway through the third, the first scored on a hellish power play at one point by Jesper Bratt, the next the second of the afternoon and the 19th of his Last 20 games on a rocket from the right wing. by the splendid Jack Hughes.
And then it was Damon Severson on a two-on-one at 2:47 to end it. It was 4-3 for New Jersey4-3 for a team that had gone 3-8-2 in its last 13 games and, with a regulation loss, would have tumbled behind the Blueshirts to third place in the Metro.
Thus, Rangers reach halfway at 22-12-7 after going 11-2-2 in their last 15 games. After all the problems in the first two months, the Blueshirts are just five points off the pace they set last year when everything seemed to be going so well after the first two weeks.
“We found our way out of our departure,” said Jacob Trouba. We are more confident now than we were in the first 20 games. We play better hockey.
All true. But the Rangers will also be locked in a battle for a playoff spot with the Devils, who finished 47 points behind the Blueshirts a year ago missing the tournament for the ninth time in 10 years.
You could say that the devils came out of nowhere. Jimmy Vesey, the New York winger who gave his team a 1-0 lead in this one after spending last season wearing the New Jersey crest, would disagree.
“I could see this coming”, No. 26 told the Post. “We started hot last year [7-3-2]then we got injured and ended up scoring nine goals, I think.
But I knew their talent. Their progress does not surprise me. With Jack, Nico [Hischier] and Bratt, there are three top guys who can play with anyone in the league. Nico may not have the same flash or charisma, but he is a world-class 200-footer.
The Devils put pucks and bodies on net throughout a first period in which they were credited by Natural Stat Trick with a 7-1 advantage on high-risk chances and an advantage 19-9 in shots. Shesterkin’s brilliance allowed his team to take a 1-0 lead that became 2-0 early in the second on Julien Gauthier’s goal (what else?).
Hughes cut the lead to 2-1 at 9:24 by intercepting Barclay Goodrow’s bizarre pass into the area from across the red line, crossing the Ben Harpur-Braden Schneider pair and beating Shesterkin from close range.
Chris Kreider’s goal around the crease at 13:15 culminated a long change of possession that restored the two-goal lead but not order. The blue shirts have never been able to sink the puck and perform the forecheck. Were never able to turn the game into a half-court game. The resulting wide open spaces favored New Jersey.
Any space favors Hughes, the first 21-year-old in 2019 to equal his season-high 26 goals which he set last season when he was limited to 49 games by an early shoulder dislocation and a late knee injury.
“If you’re up against him when he fails, you have to try to match his speed,” Vesey said. “You have to be tight. You have to stay on him. But it’s not easy.
It’s like a video game. The NHL video game has a turbo setting. It is what it is. He just turned it on. Suddenly he hits that switch and he’s on turbo.
“I sat next to him in the hall and he’s a really good guy. He had two pretty serious injuries so it wasn’t easy for him,” Vesey said. “I’m happy for him. .”
Rangers would be happier if they had left this game in second place. They had it within reach for a while, but got a little slack and freed from fantasy while the Devils refused to walk away.
Let this be a reminder. Let this be a warning: there’s no reason to expect anything different from the Devils the rest of the way.
The race is on.
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