First Period:

• Ondrej Palat (2) Unassisted

Second Period:

• Erik Haula (2) (Power Play) Assists: Dawson Mercer (1), Damon Severson (1)
• Dawson Mercer (1) (Shorthanded) Assists: Erik Haula (2)

Third Period:

• Erik Haula (3) (Empty Net) Assists: Nico Hischier (3), Ryan Graves (1)

Stats:

Adam Rotter:

• What a disappointment. They had two days off, time to work on things and clear their heads after a brutal Game 4 and it was basically more of the same. They deserve to be on the verge of elimination.
• They looked and played nervous and it never felt like they had a chance. They had their shots blocked, they missed the net on some good chances and while Schmid did have to make some nice saves, it still wasn’t enough to really test him.
• The Devils deserve a ton of credit for how they adjusted after Game 2 and the Rangers had no answer to their speed and pressure defensivelye. And it’s not like this is new from the Devils. New Jersey did this all season and you’d think that the Rangers would have had better answers for how to deal with it. The Devils knew how the Rangers wanted to play and put forth a gameplan to limit it and the Rangers couldn’t do the same to generate any real offense.
• The Rangers had more shots blocked than shots on net and Igor Shesterkin was credited with as many shots on goal as Alexis Lafreniere, Artemi Panarin, Vincent Trocheck, Chris Kreider, Adam Fox, Kaapo Kakko, Filip Chytil. It probably would have been easier to just list the four Rangers that had more than one (Zibanejad, Tarasenko, Lindgren and Tyler Motte)
• Artemi Panarin just sort of seems broken. We waited all season to see how he would respond to his lackluster playoffs last year. He put up a lot of points, shot the puck and looked like he was ready for this year’s playoffs….but he’s been just as bad, if not worse, this year. He’s fumbling the puck, can’t receive a pass, can’t make a pass and he can’t fly under the radar this year because the team as a whole seems broken after Game 2.
• It’s not just Panarin, the entire top-six was lackluster again, but at least those guys have proven in the past that they can score in the playoffs.
• Now the question is whether or not Gerard Gallant is coaching for his job on Saturday and/or Monday. He made it into the third year with Florida and Vegas before getting fired and there is no reason to bring him back if he’s just going to start the season on the hot seat. I don’t know how much of what has happened resides with him, but the Rangers never seemed to adjust after the Devils adjusted to them. This team had a lot of expectations, made moves at the deadline and showed in Game 2 that they were capable of being a Stanley Cup Contender…but that hasn’t returned. I imagine that James Dolan is excited that the Knicks are going to the second round, but I can’t imagine he’s excited that the Rangers look like they won’t be.
• When you fire a coach you have to believe that someone out there is better and while that can be subjective, what won’t be subjective is the next coach having a Stanley Cup ring with him. Joel Quenneville has three but needs to be reinstated by the league, but many believe that will happen. The other big candidate would be Peter Laviolette. He left Washington after an injury-decimated season, but he has a Stanley Cup ring with Carolina, took Philly and Nashville to the Finals and coached Chris Drury with Team USA.
• It is just amazing to me that after how well the Rangers dominated Game 2 that they are now one game away from this becoming an unbelievably disappointing playoffs. But
• All of that said….I’d like to believe that they can win Game 6 and then win Game 7, and they can, but they have done nothing over the last three games to make that seem realistic. Igor Shesterkin can continue to be terrific, but unless the Rangers actually put a puck in the net, his margin for error will be razor thin.
• They need to score first on Saturday, they need to get the crowd into it and grow some confidence because there is going to be a lot of nervous energy in the building….and if the last few games are any indication, on the ice as well.