The New Jersey Devils defeated the New York Rangers 4-0 on Monday in the seventh and final game of their series and advanced to the second round of playoffs.
Michael McLeod, Tomas Tatar, Jesper Bratt and Erik Haula scored the goals for the Devils. Akira Schmid made 31 saves for the shutout.
“He was amazing,” Tatar said of his goalie after the game. He just looks so patient in front of his net. He was a major role in the series. Coming from a young goalkeeper, it was not easy. However, he remained strong. »
On the Rangers side, Igor Shesterkin stopped 20 of 23 shots.
The Devils started the game strong, winning the majority of battles for the puck and directing quality shots at Shesterkin.
“We believe in ourselves,” Devils captain Nico Hischier said. We know that even though last year didn’t go as planned, with all the injuries, we have a good squad here. This group has a lot of character. »
Following two penalties leading to a 4-on-4, the Rangers got a power play early in the second half. The team almost scored the first goal of the match, but after a shot from Vladimir Tarasenko hit the outside of the post, Mika Zibanejad saw Schmid steal a goal from him with a superb mitt save.
No goals were scored in the first period, but both teams got some quality chances. The Devils finished the first period up 7-6 in shots, with the majority of those shots coming on overplay and slot chances.
“I love having talent on the ice, but I love having a work ethic and forechecking even more,” said Rangers head coach Gerard Gallant. Those kinds of things, we just didn’t have them. »
The Devils also started the second period the same way they started the previous one, that is to say with a lot of speed and pressure in front of Shesterkin’s net. The Rangers goalkeeper had to signal to keep the game 0-0.
However, he couldn’t do anything a few minutes later, after 9:53 of play in the second period, when McLeod scored the first goal of the game, shorthanded. The Devils striker brought the score to 1-0 thanks to a nice backhand feint, while Shesterkin had compromised. Ondrej Palat got rid of two players near the boards and made the pass to McLeod for the goal.
The Devils didn’t stop there. After 15:39 of play in the second period, Tatar took advantage of a fine pass from John Marino, who had just missed his chance with a backhand shot, to double the Devils lead.
The Rangers led 12-11 on shots in the second period.
The tension rose a notch in the third period. After Hischier made contact with Shesterkin, who had come out of his net to retrieve a puck, Rangers defenseman and captain Jacob Trouba served a hard check to forward Timo Meier with 14:21 to go. regulation time. Meier was stunned and left for the Devils locker room.
Haula scored a third goal for the Devils 14:26 into the game, on a pass from Jack Hughes on a three-on-one outplay, while Marino was on the attack to help the offense.
Bratt added an empty-netter, his first playoff goal, and the Devils made it 4-0.
The Devils will now face the Carolina Hurricanes in the second round.