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Devils Win OT Thriller over Rangers

It is no secret that the New Jersey Devils are no longer in the playoff hunt. Their ten game skid back in late February/early March made sure of that. But they were playing the New York Rangers at Prudential Center tonight and you just had to know that the Devils would be up for this one. The Devils were at risk of getting swept by the Rangers in the season series for the first time since the 2014-15 season.

But they were not, getting a 3-2 overtime win over their Hudson River rivals. The two teams last met back on February 25 at Prudential Center and it was a barnburner that New York won in overtime. If this game was even half as exciting as that one, then the fans would be in for a good one.

In some roster movements, Miles Wood was back in after missing the Columbus game on Sunday with an injury. He would go on to play a big part in tonight’s game. The Devils are still without Michael Cammalleri, Jacob Josefson and Devante Smith-Pelly due to injury. Cammalleri and Josefson have skated on their own but have not been cleared yet. Smith-Pelly is not skating yet and the word is that none of the three are close to returning. Blake Pietila and Dalton Prout were New Jersey’s healthy scratches.

Missing the game for the Rangers were Tanner Glass, Steven Kampfer, Kevin Klein, Brandon Pirri and Matt Puempel.

Another injured player for the Rangers is Henrik Lundqvist, who is missing with a hip injury. He has been out for the last five games. Due to this the goaltending matchup saw Antii Raanta go for the Rangers and Cory Schneider get between the pipes for the Devils. Raanta made 25 saves on 28 Devils shots for a .893 save percentage. Schneider made 38 saves on 40 Ranger shots for a .950 save percentage. Both goalies were amazing at times and kept the game in check.

On another note, 18 year-old Shane Daneyko, the son of “Mr. Devil” Ken Daneyko, sang the national anthem prior to the game. MSG+ aired his performance and he did a great job. Congratulations to both Daneykos, as I am sure that Ken is very proud of son Shane right now.

The first period saw no scoring but did see a total of 25 shots. The Rangers peppered Cory with 14 while the Devils scattered 11.

The game really kicked off in the second period. At 14:46, the Rangers’ Brendan Smith was called for tripping Beau Bennett. The Devils went on the power play and the young guys took over. The puck wound around to Pavel Zacha and he sent it down low to Joseph Blandisi. Blandisi then centered it to John Quenneville at the bottom of the near faceoff circle. He tapped it home for his first NHL goal and gave the Devils a 1-0 lead. Congratulations to John Quenneville on his first NHL goal and here’s hoping it is the first of many. That goal came at 15:16. The Devils 1-for-2 on the power play while the Rangers were 1-for-3.

But the Rangers had an answer for that. At 16:53, Oscar Lindberg scored from Pavel Buchnevich and Ryan McDonagh to tie things at one. It was a big period for both teams. Before the second frame was through, the Devils would retake the lead and all hell would break loose.

First the goal. At 18:22, Taylor Hall, who had been shaken up by a big hit after the Quenneville goal but did not leave the bench, took a pass from Kyle Palmieri. Palmieri had grabbed the puck on a nice turnover forced by a forechecking Travis Zajac. Hall received the pass and fired a shot from the same place Quenneville did as he was falling down. The puck went in just under the crossbar, no one really sure if it went in or not (including Hall), but the official signaled the goal and the Devils had taken a 2-1 lead.

After that goal, at 19:43, Wood took a hit from Nick Holden along the stanchion in the glass near the corner of the bench. He did not have the puck and immediately went for Holden when he got up. Three fights broke out on the ice in addition to Wood-Holden: Blake Coleman took on Jimmy Vesey and the Devils’ Nick Lappin also got into a scrap.

When the dust settled, Wood was given a fighting major, a ten minute misconduct and the extra two minute instigator penalty. That would be key, as the Rangers would convert on the power play they got from it. Also, Wood would be missing the first 17 minutes of the third period for the Devils. It showed when the Devils did not have his energy and speed on the ice, spending a good deal of the period in the Rangers’ zone.

The game tying goal came off the stick of Rick Nash off assists from Kevin Hayes and Brady Skjei at 1:21 of the third period. This came just moments after Derek Stepan hit the post at the start of the third. The game was now tied at two and the Rangers seemed to be in control. The ice was tilted for much of the third and Mats Zuccarello hit the crossbar off of a faceoff late in the third where the puck was on end and he fired it, getting the iron.

But this game was destined for overtime. And what an overtime period it was! The game winner came at 4:05 of the three-on-three session when, seconds after Cory Schneider made a nice poke check on a Rangers shooter, Quenneville grabbed the puck and rushed up ice with Joseph Blandisi. The two criss-crossed through the neutral zone and, when Quenneville hit the Rangers’ blue line, he looked up and fed Blandisi, who was skating through the slot. Blandisi took the pass and moved to his backhand, beating Raanta to give the Devils a thrilling 3-2 win in overtime.

This goal came minutes after Hall had made a beautiful inside out move through the legs of the Rangers defender, only to be stopped on a save by Raanta.

So the Devils showed a lot tonight against their rivals. They are now a young team that has a lot of potential. They are still on pace to lose the most games a Devils team has lost since the 1988-89 season, but the future looked very bright tonight. The young guys came through when they were needed and they are starting to blossom.

Next up for the Devils is the equally young Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday. The Devils will travel up to Air Canada Centre to meet a team that is on the verge of possibly making the playoffs. Fans in Toronto will be very excited, but little can beat tonight’s game. Hopefully the Devils do not have a let down game following one that they were so emotionally invested in.

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Blue Jackets Score Two on Penalty Shots, Beat Devils

The Devils fell to the Columbus Blue Jackets at Prudential Center today, 4-1, allowing the Jackets to qualify for the Stanley Cup playoffs. It was a strange one, that is for sure and a weird way for Columbus to clinch.

The Prudential Center had a good crowd today, considering the team is out of contention at this point. It was Kid’s Day, which meant lots of activities for the youngsters including face painting and meet and greets with NJ Devil.

The Devils lineup looked almost exactly as it has the last two games with only a few exceptions. Miles Wood joined the legion of injured Devils (with Michael Cammalleri, Jacob Josefson and Devante Smith-Pelly). He was injured in the Pittsburgh game and did not return to that game on Friday night. Nick Lappin was a (presumably) healthy scratch to make a spot for Steve Santini, who slotted back in on defense. Scratched for Columbus were Lauri Korpikoski, Ryan Murray, Markus Nutivaara and Alexander Wennberg.

The goaltending matchup saw Cory Schneider return to the crease for the Devils after two consecutive Keith Kinkaid starts. He made 23 stops on 26 shots (Columbus had 27 shots on the afternoon – scoring an empty netter late in the game) for a .885 save percentage. Sergei Bobrovsky got the nod for the Blue Jackets, making 35 saves on 36 Devils shots for a .972 save percentage.

The first goal of the game was an odd one, to say the least. Columbus’ Josh Anderson was called for tripping at 5:33 to set up a Devils power play. During the ensuing man advantage, at 6:32, Lukas Sedlak was sprung on a breakaway and Andy Greene hooked him down, resulting in a shorthanded penalty shot for the Blue Jackets. He converted on the penalty shot putting the Jackets up 1-0. The penalty shot issue was a big thing for the Devils following the Pittsburgh game on Friday when the Penguins were granted a penalty shot and then the Devils were denied one on almost the exact same play going the other way.

Columbus doubled their lead in the first period, also shorthanded, when Matt Calvert was called for tripping Joseph Blandisi at 9:09. The Devils were on their second power play, but this time, it was Boone Jenner who scored from an impossible angle, beating Cory to make it 2-0. He got assists from Jack Johnson and David Savard.

The Devils finally broke through on the power play at 10:30 of the first. It was on the same Calvert penalty and occurred when Pavel Zacha grabbed the puck on a Columbus zone clear and tipped the puck forward to Adam Henrique, who broke free in on Bobrovsky. He barreled in and went five hole, slipping the puck by the Russian goaltender. Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella immediately asked for a review, saying that the play was offside. Replays showed the linesemen that Zacha was well onside when he played the puck and the call on the ice stood as a good goal. It was now 2-1, giving the Devils some hope.

Overall on the afternoon, the Devils were 1-for-3 on the power play and Columbus was 0-for-1 with the two shorties.

The Blue Jackets would add to their lead in the second period, making it 3-1 when, at the 6:28 mark, former Jacket Dalton Prout hauled down Josh Anderson on a breakaway and another penalty shot was called in favor of the Blue Jackets. Brandon Dubinsky was called on to take the shot after some delay and beat Schneider to make it 3-1. The Blue Jackets now had two shorthanded goals and two penalty shot goals in the same game.

In the third period, Cory was pulled with about two minutes left and Boone Jenner again struck, clearing into an empty net unassisted to make the final score 4-1.

A strange but tough loss for New Jersey, but they regroup to take on yet another Metropolitan Division contender on Tuesday. This time, the archrival New York Rangers come to town to give the Devils another test. They have been hanging with the elites, just not able to beat them. It is not like these games have been blowouts, so a rivalry game just might be what the doctor ordered to give the Devils a little pick-me-up and get them off of this two game slide. With one win in their last thirteen, they are playing for pride now and will hopefully show enough of it against the Rangers on Tuesday.

Also, congratulations to the Columbus Blue Jackets and their fans as they embark on their run in the 2017 Stanley Cup playoffs. It is a great feeling when you finally get in after years of disappointment and I hope they do well. Good luck again and I hope they do some damage.