NEW YORK — Monday wasn’t a no-show by any means for the New York Rangers. Jacob Markström was superb in the New Jersey Devils’ net, shutting down a host of good scoring chances.
But all those scoring chances came after the Devils had two goals on the board in the first 7:10 of the game. The Rangers were more ready Monday than they were in most of their five consecutive losses last week, but “more ready” isn’t the standard. And though the 5-1 final might have been a bit more lopsided than how the game played out, it was still the worst Madison Square Garden loss to the rival Devils since Dec. 17, 2006.
That’s another ugly milestone in a 1-6-0 stretch filled with mistakes, missed opportunities and way too many passengers.
“It’s got to be sharper in the first when we first take the ice, regardless of the effort,” coach Peter Laviolette said. “It’s got to be better right off the bat. What we’re doing isn’t good, so to sit here and accept it, that’s unacceptable itself.”
Chris Kreider’s power-play goal got the Rangers on the board in a penalty-filled second, but it only cut the deficit to 4-1 and the Devils restored their comfortable lead on Jack Hughes’ second of the night, also on the power play, later in the period.
Markström made 39 saves and outdueled Igor Shesterkin, but the game was lost in the opening minutes.
Some takeaways from another dreary outcome:
Not ready for the puck drop
The first scoring chance either way came in the opening minute when Nico Hischier slipped behind the Rangers’ 1-3-1 defensive structure for a partial two-on-one break. Shesterkin turned that shot aside.
Just 35 seconds later, the Rangers, with five players on the ice, gave up a similar look — Braden Schneider rushed the puck into the Devils’ zone and turned it over, and Ondrej Palat spotted Jesper Bratt behind a wandering Artemi Panarin, starting another Devils two-on-one. Bratt finished this one five-hole, and the Rangers, who gave up 25 high-danger chances in the first periods of their five-game losing streak, were breaking down early once again.
Dawson Mercer’s goal to make it 2-0 at 7:10 came off a Vincent Trocheck shot block and a changeup shot that fooled Shesterkin, but the Rangers immediately gave up a Jack Hughes breakaway half a minute later that Shesterkin stopped. There was also a short-handed breakaway from Bratt later in the first that went wide.
“It’s not ‘here we go again,’ but I guess the confidence, the calmness to your game when you’re winning (isn’t there),” Mika Zibanejad said. “You go down 1-0, and it doesn’t bother you; it’s normal. You can ask any team — that happens. And tonight we didn’t lay flat in the first period after that. I’m not saying that’s good, but we battled back, we had some chances. It just wasn’t enough.”
Panarin’s, Chytil’s minutes cut
Panarin’s defensive gaffe cost him some minutes — he played just 4:39 in the first period and 2:39 at five-on-five, and he only got his minutes up past low double-digits in the third, when the Rangers controlled possession and the Devils were just chipping out pucks.
Panarin and Filip Chytil were skipped in the rotation for the final few minutes of the first.
“We needed a little bit more out of those guys,” Laviolette said. “It wasn’t so much a message or anything like that.”
Panarin ended up playing 16:43, with 6:08 of that coming on the power play. Chytil (11:47) and Alexis Lafrenière (12:34) got about as much ice time as the fourth line.
The multiple second-period power plays for both teams and a game out of reach in the third distorted some ice times, but it’s clear Laviolette is trying to mete out more punishment or merit regardless of prior status. Jimmy Vesey was a healthy scratch for the first time this season, and Reilly Smith returned to the lineup after his healthy scratch Saturday.
What can change?
Brett Berard (upper body) gave the Rangers some nice jump in previous games, but the big hit he took in Saturday’s game has left him on the sidelines. The current group generated chances and didn’t give up the huge volume of shots and chances against we’ve seen in prior losses, but there was plenty of quality early from the Devils, and New Jersey takes advantage of that this season.
Curiously, Laviolette didn’t arrive at the postgame news conference for about 15 minutes after the dressing room wrapped up, which is unusual. The Rangers have three days until their next game: the first MSG visit from the Pittsburgh Penguins with Mike Sullivan, general manager Chris Drury’s most coveted coach, and former Rangers coach David Quinn, now a Penguins assistant.
No one knows what Drury might do if Sullivan, Quinn and the hated Penguins drop another L on the Rangers. Stay tuned.
(Top photo of Igor Shesterkin: Dennis Schneidler / Imagn Images)
