Suppressing a third period comeback is a matter of luck, but the Rangers can’t expect to get the same luck twice.
However, that’s exactly what the Blueshirts got when the Devils gave them a late-game power play that Mika Zibanejad used to break a tie and secure a 5-3 win at Prudential Center on Sunday-afternoon. The win completed the Devils’ four-game sweep, which the Rangers badly needed to stay in the playoff race.
The Rangers had a 3-1 lead in the third period, but for the second day in a row, the Devils buried two quick goals with a lot of play left. On Saturday, the Devils came within one reach and never managed to tie the score. This time, two were all they needed to even the score.
But Devils defender Ryan Murray was caught high-sticking Kaapo Kakko, giving the Rangers a timely man advantage. Zibanejad took over the birthday magic from Pavel Buchnevich on Saturday and batted in the match winner with three minutes to go.
Ryan Strome was then hooked on his way to an empty goal and was credited with the 5-3 tally.
“If you play a team four times in a row, if you have four wins, I don’t care what it looks like,” said head coach David Quinn of the win, which kept the Rangers within four points of the fourth playoff spot. and the Bruins, who control two games. ‘I don’t care how many leads you blew up. I do not care. It doesn’t matter, it really doesn’t matter if you find ways to win and that’s what we did.
That said, we certainly understand that if we want to be successful, we have to play better. We know that’s not lost with us, it’s not lost with the coaches and I don’t think it’s lost with any of the players. “
The Rangers were scared at the end of the first period when goalkeeper Alexandar Georgiev had to be helped off the ice and stumbled through the tunnel in favor of his left leg. Igor Shesterkin had to make two saves in 2:19 of Ice Age to complete the period before Georgiev returned to start on the second.
Georgiev, who said after the game that his knee was locked, managed to finish the game and went on to get 25 saves.
The Rangers spent most of the first 20 minutes in the defensive zone while the Devils maintained continuous control of the ball. But whenever the Devils made a mistake, the Rangers attacked, as they did throughout the series.
With Devils captain Nico Hischier in the penalty area for Jacob Trouba’s front jersey, who was on the hits early and drew the ire of his opponents for it, Zibanejad hit Chris Kreider at the door for the easy tap-in. Kreider’s count at 6:31 earned him a career-high 10 power-play goals in the season.
It was the rookies who then took the Rangers to a 3-0 lead. Vitali Kravtsov shot a one-timer for his first NHL goal at the end of the first, before Alexis Lafreniere’s backhander on the rush built a comfortable margin early in the second.
After acknowledging that giving up leads in the third is something the team will have to talk about, Zibanejad made it clear that the Rangers’ sights are on the playoffs.
“We’ve put ourselves in a good place,” he said. “So we’re trying to play it game by game, and it sounds very cliché, but that’s all we can do. Just worry about the next game and try to get the two points and move on. “