We’ll tell each other, it’s not this way, and with a pitiful air, that the Rangers thought they were going home.
Because these Rangers believed that this season was going to be theirs. Like a compulsive gambler who sits too long at the same table under the pretext that “it’s coming”, the Rangers have chosen to throw all their chips at once before the trade deadline, by going to get Messrs Kane and Tarasenko, as if they were the Yankees of hockey.
But in hockey, those things rarely work out.
These Rangers, moreover, took advantage of a very bad moment to break down offensively. After winning the first two games in a very decisive way, by a combined mark of 10-2, they had two games of one goal, and two of zero, including this one, the seventh and last of the series, won with a hand behind the back by the New Jersey Devils, and by the score of 4-0.
But who was the torturer of the Blue Shirts during those dark days? A certain Akira Schmid, fifth-round pick in 2018. We thank him for reminding us, another time, that in modern hockey, it is no longer necessary to bet on a goalkeeper at 10.5 million dollars to advance ( we will tell you about Laurent Brossoit another time).
This Schmid, therefore, has allowed himself to soap up the Rangers twice in this series, and this is probably the most astonishing end in this story. Again on Monday, he said no to his opponents 31 times.
His arrival in front of the Devils net, from game number three, certainly changed the proverbial edge wind. At the same time, and especially on Monday night, Rangers’ big guns were invisible, which is pretty hard to explain in the context of a game number seven, where you can expect quite a bit more from the star players. .
By the way, while the Kane, Panarin and other Tarasenkos were very quiet in the visiting camp, the Devils’ second goal was scored by… Tomas Tatar. It’s good to say.
So can we speak of a real surprise here? Not really, no, since the Devils were still favored by several experts in this series. Rather, it is their rise that is noteworthy.
In the previous season, New Jersey players concluded the schedule at 14e rank in the Eastern Conference standings, with a very modest harvest of 63 points. This season, they jumped to third place in that same standings, with a total of 112 points. It’s quite a dramatic turnaround, and it must be able to make some supporters of a certain team dream who hasn’t won anything since 1993.
In the meantime, it is the Devils fans who will dream a little more, since their favorites will advance to the second round to face the Carolina Hurricanes.
In closing, a word on Jacob Trouba, the captain of the Rangers, who took himself for Scott Stevens for one evening, and who went and ripped off the head of poor Timo Meier, with a check that was, it seems perfectly legal. In any case, Trouba was not punished on the game.
Who can claim to be able to explain that? Nobody, probably, because the NHL rulebook is a mystery comparable to the pyramids of Egypt, and it applies according to the evening of the week, according to the month of the year, and again, it can change when leap years.
But it would be good, one day, to review and rethink all that, because hockey players are not made to get hit like that. Go ask Eric Lindros.