First Period:
- Jack Hughes (3) Assists: Jonas Siegenthaler (1)
Second Period:
Third Period:
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- Vincent Trocheck (1) Assists: Chris Kreider (1), Patrick Kane (5)
- Jonas Siegenthaler (1) Assists: Nico Hischier (2), Dougie Hamilton (2)
- Ondrej Palat (1) (Empty Net) Unassisted
Stats:
- What an incredibly frustrating and extremely disappointing set of games at MSG. The Rangers went into Game 3 with a chance to keep the Devils down, they came into Game 4 with a chance to erase their mistakes in Game 3 and stop the Devils momentum. Instead they go into Game 5 tied 2-2 and looking nothing like the confident, exciting team they were last week.
- The Devils deserve a ton of credit. They adjusted for Game 3 and were even better tonight. The Devils played the simple, smart game that the Rangers played last week and the Rangers couldn’t deal with their pressure. New Jersey was the better team and deserved to win.
- The Devils brought speed and energy and the Rangers couldn’t match it. They were slow, lost puck battle after puck battle, board battle after board battle and had no flow to the game. Every shot and pass was blocked or broken up and they never presented a real or sustained challenge for Schmid. They played too much on the perimeter, settled for long distance shots and got nothing from their best players. It got better for the early part of the third, but too little, too late, especially once the Devils scored again. Once the Devils scored to regain the lead all the issues from the first two periods came back and the Rangers couldn’t do anything.
- It took until Game 6 of the first round last year for Mika Zibanejad to start scoring, so maybe we have that to look forward to, but he hasn’t been much of an offensive factor in this series. Part of that is because he isn’t being set up on the PP, but at 5-on-5 he, like most of the team, isn’t generating much. One shot on goal and only two others attempted just isn’t good enough for the player that has the best shot on the team.
- Another game where Artemi Panarin left a lot to be desired, though he was far from the only one. Panarin just looks nervous out there. He’s normally so surehanded with the puck, but he’s struggling to even receive passes. I’m not sure what he needs to do or what needs to be done, but so far through one playoff run and four games of another he is looking like a regular-season impact player and not a playoff-type impact player.
- Again, the PP was such a miss tonight. They didn’t get as many opportunities as Game 3, but they were struggling to get into the zone and set up. It doesn’t matter who is positioned where if you can’t get the puck into the zone and start passing it around.
- The series isn’t over, but the Devils have taken all the momentum and good feeling that the Rangers had. Maybe, for whatever reason, getting away from MSG will help, and if that is the case, it’s a good thing that the Rangers didn’t grab second place because then Game 7 would be at home.The Rangers need to find a way to match the Devils urgency and intensity. The Devils upped their game, found their speed and pressure and have the Rangers on their heels. The Rangers have two full days between games to figure something out otherwise this season will go down, especially after the first two games, as an extreme disappointment and changes, to some degree, will have to follow.