Extra passing burns Rangers; fall to Devils in OT

For the first time this series, the Rangers and Devils needed overtime to decide a game. Both Igor Shesterkin and Akira Schmid stood tall, with Schmid stopping 27 in regulation and Shesterkin stopping 22. The difference in this game was clearly Schmid, as he made some very good saves early as the Rangers looked to get the powerplay going early. But in the end, it was the Devils who got the last goal in overtime, as the extra passing burned the Rangers throughout the contest.

The Rangers opened the scoring off a rare even strength goal from Chris Kreider. Even rarer was this was an actual shot, unlike his four previous deflection goals. The Devils got one back when Jack Hughes scored with the man advantage. The rest of the game was rather even, with the Rangers doing a very good job of shutting down the neutral zone and limiting quality chances against. That has been the theme of the series thus far for the Blueshirts.

But this time around, the Rangers were too confident, borderline cocky, after taking a 2-0 series lead. The extra pass worked its way back into their game, and it burned them. Now the Devils are back in the series, and Monday becomes a must-win.

Rangers 1, Devils 0

Patrick Kane forced the turnover at the blue line, which sprung Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider on the 2-on-1. Kreider opted to shoot, and beat the rookie Akira Schmid to open the scoring.

Rangers 1, Devils 1

After some questionable calls following a scrum, in which Timo Meier “fell” on Shesterkin’s leg and Shesterkin got the penalty, the Devils got one on the powerplay. Jack Hughes simply beat Igor Shesterkin short side top corner. Hughes stretched the penalty killers and then found space at the top of the circle.

Devils 2, Rangers 1

The Rangers played with fire all game by simply getting too cute, and it bit them since the game went to overtime. Instead, they traded chances as the ice opened up, and the Devils got one off a rush from Dougie Hamilton from Jesper Bratt. Too many Rangers went to Bratt, and Hamilton was wide open.