Entering Tuesday’s clash with the Rangers, the Devils hadn’t played a game in more than two weeks due to a coronavirus outbreak across the team. Thirteen players from the Devils formation had recently left the COVD-19 protocol list.
His goalkeeper Mackenzie Blackwood, one of the first Devils players to light the COVID-19 domino effect, began his first outing in almost a month.
But it was the Blueshirts who came out on top, finished the final and were outscored in the third period to drop their fourth straight game in a 5-2 defeat at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday night.
The Rangers should have been the weakest team, the strongest team. However, the Devils proved to be all these things during the 60 minutes, despite having only one practice to prepare from their last game on January 31st.
Upon entering the third period scored 2-2, without Jacob Trouba, who suffered an upper body injury in the second, the Rangers saw how the Devils should have been tired and refused to waver. , as they took advantage of their opportunities.
A deflection by Yegor Sharangovich turned out to be the winner of the game, before Nicholas Merkley hit the puck out of the air to get the insurance bill. Mikhail Maltsev’s empty net poured some salt into the Rangers’ open wound.
Rookie coach Igor Shesterkin kept the Rangers alive in the first period, stopping the 16 shots he faced to keep the game unscored. He deflected the kicks of Kyle Palmieri and Andreas Johnsson, including a series of five consecutive shots in the 12th minute, before ending the night with 32 stops on 36 shots.
Opening the central penalty frame, the Rangers woke up after putting up a handful of abbreviated opportunities and throwing six unanswered shots at goal to start the period.
With Zibanejad in the box after hitting Nathan Bastian, Pavel Zacha gave the Devils the 1-0 lead at 7:37. It was the first power goal the Rangers allowed in seven games and ended with a 22-to-22 streak on penalties.
Colin Blackwell ended the Rangers’ scoring drought that spanned four seasons, dating back to the blocking loss against the Bruins on Saturday, when he shot a Blackwood pass from the right circle at 11:32 for his fourth point in his first six games as a Ranger. .
The Devils took the lead again at 17:14 with a Will Butcher shot that seemed to deflect towards Trouba. But Pavel Buchnevich equalized again just over two minutes later with a left-footed shot.