Entering Tuesday’s matchup with the Rangers, the Devils hadn’t played a game in more than two weeks due to a team-wide coronavirus outbreak. Thirteen players in the Devils’ lineup had recently come off the COVD-19 protocol list.
Their goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood, one of the first Devils to ignite the COVID-19 domino effect, made his first start in nearly a month.
But it was the Blueshirts who came out flatfooted, winded and were ultimately outplayed in the third period to drop their fourth straight game in a 5-2 loss at Madison Square Garden.
The Rangers should’ve been the team that was loose, the team that was sharp. However, the Devils proved to be all of those things through the full 60 minutes despite having just one practice to prepare since their last game on Jan. 31.
Entering the third period knotted at 2-2 — without Jacob Trouba who sustained an upper-body injury in the second — the Rangers watched as the should’ve-been-tired Devils refused to falter as they made the most of their chances.
A deflection from Yegor Sharangovich proved to be the game-winner, before Nicholas Merkley smacked a one-timer for the insurance tally. Mikhail Maltsev’s empty-netter poured some salt in the Rangers’ open wound.
“That’s a team that’s coming off a two-week break, I realize they probably were pretty excited to get back to playing hockey,” Chris Kreider said after the loss, which dropped the Rangers to 4-7-3. “But that’s an unacceptable start. For a majority of the game, they out-hit us, out-skated us, outworked us, won more battles. We got away from the things that we were doing well, they just flat-out wanted it more.”
Rookie netminder Igor Shesterkin kept the Rangers alive in the first period, stopping all 16 shots he faced to keep the game scoreless. He turned aside breakaways from Kyle Palmieri and Andreas Johnsson, including a slew of five straight shots at the 12-minute mark, before finishing the night with 32 saves, a single-game season high, on 36 shots.
Was it a lack of effort?
“Uh, yeah,” Rangers coach David Quinn said bluntly.
Asked how he plans to address that, he said it will be mentioned before, during and after practice Wednesday. As well as prior to the team’s next game in Philadelphia on Thursday.
Opening the middle frame on the penalty kill, the Rangers woke up after stringing together a handful of shorthanded chances and pouring on six unanswered shots on goal to start the period. But when Zibanejad went to the box after he elbowed Nathan Bastian, Pavel Zacha gave the Devils the 1-0 lead at 7:37.
It was the first power-play goal the Rangers allowed in seven games and ended a 22-for-22 streak on the penalty kill.
Colin Blackwell ended the Rangers’ scoring drought that had spanned four periods, dating to the shutout loss to the Bruins on Friday, when he sniped one past Blackwood from the right circle at 11:32 for his fourth point in his first six games as a Ranger.
Will Butcher, who was credited on the goal that put th Devils in front 3-2 when the puck appeared to deflect in off Trouba, and Pavel Buchnevich traded tallies to carry an even score into the third. But the Rangers lost this game when the puck dropped in the first, and they allowed a team that hadn’t even smelled the ice in 15 days to run them out of their arena.
“We were really listless and lifeless and it’s unacceptable,” Kreider said. “Has to be better going forward. It starts with — doesn’t start with anyone — it’s every single guy in that room, and we all have to be better and we all know it.”
