The New Jersey Devils edged the New York Rangers 3-2 last night in a preseason tune-up. It wasn’t as dominant as the wins against Montreal and Philadelphia, but New Jersey did just enough to send the Rangers across the river with a loss. Doing so, relying on goalies Akira Schmid (19-of-19) and Erik Källgren (19-of-21 saved).
Summary
First Period
The Devils looked good to start the first period, testing Igor Shesterkin early and often. Mika Zibanejad drew an interference penalty at the 3:18 mark, giving New Jersey a man advantage. The power play units buzzed in the offensive zone, putting five high-quality shots on the net. However, Shesterkin and the Rangers’ penalty kill managed to stop them all, killing New Jersey’s momentum.
The Devils looked sloppy for much of the rest of the period. The passing was offline, most of their shots were blocked, and they were hemmed into their own zone for entire shifts.
However, free agent acquisition Tyler Toffoli broke the Devils out of their funk late in the period with his first goal of the preseason, mishandling a beautiful feed by Simon Nemec but recovering with a wicked backhand shovel into the net. The period would end with the Devils up 1-0.
Second Period
Despite drawing first blood at the end of the first period, the Devils looked disoriented to start the second. Halfway through the period, as planned, head coach Lindy Ruff pulled Akira Schmid, who didn’t allow a goal on 19 shots, in favor of depth acquisition Erik Källgren.
The Rangers ambushed Källgren with a goal from Erik Gustafsson, who ripped a wrist shot home off a feed from Braden Schneider. It was the first shot Källgren faced. The teams went into the second intermission tied at one.
Third Period
The Rangers pulled Igor Shesterkin going into the third period in favor of former Devil Louis Domingue.
Jesper Bratt gave New Jersey the lead back to start the frame, elevating the puck past Domingue from in tight after a nice pass from Kevin Bahl at the boards.
Rangers’ head coach Peter Laviolette pulled his goalie with under two minutes to play, but Michael McLeod potted the empty-netter, seemingly sealing the deal. Brennan Othmann had other ideas, however, sniping a goal from the point after a broken-stick shot from Gustafsson deflected off Jack Hughes’ stick. After a fierce battle in the Devils’ end, New Jersey would still come out on top 3-2.
Results
With last night’s win, the Devils remain undefeated in the preseason with a 3-0 record. They look shaky at times against a put-together Rangers squad, but they managed to do enough right things to squeak out a win.
Game Notes
Rookie Struggles
Head coach Lindy Ruff threw his two premier prospect defensemen in the fire last night and it didn’t exactly go well.
Simon Nemec led all Devils with 19:18 of five-on-five ice time and got hemmed in on a regular basis. He was on the ice for 30 Rangers’ shot attempts compared to only 10 for New Jersey. His expected goals-for percentage (xGF%) of 24.11 was one of the worst in the game. Despite this, he did have a great cross-ice pass to help set up the first Devils’ goal.
Luke Hughes had the team’s second-most ice time played at five on five and also struggled. His 35.70 xGF% was slightly below the team average mark and overall is a pretty poor figure.
It was nice to see each player get a run with some difficult ice time and the Rangers’ best. However, there were definitely some struggles there.
Power Play Looked Strong
The Devils looked solid on both of their power plays but didn’t capitalize on the man advantage. In all, they tallied 12 shot attempts, seven scoring chances, and five high-danger chances.
The main reason they were unable to convert was due to the stellar goaltending of the all-world Igor Shesterkin. Regardless, nice to see the unit looking sharp.
Up Next
The Devils and Flyers will face off in another preseason game Saturday at 7:00 pm ET in Philadelphia.