DEVIL WITHIN
Blueshirts' special teams rear ugly head in loss
Eight days away didn’t change much about the Rangers season.
J.T. Miller remained a bright spot, doing as much as he could to continue the good feelings three wins in their previous four matches could muster. The Blueshirts felt they did a lot of good things — a refrain as familiar as their underwhelming play — and they were strong at even strength.
Yet, it wasn’t enough to overcome the relentless Devils on Tuesday night, not when special teams remains this team’s enemy. Of course, it didn’t help that New Jersey had the superior goaltender — Cory Schneider was significantly better than Henrik Lundqvist — and so it wasn’t a surprise the surprising Devils prevailed, 32, in front of 15,614 at Prudential Center in Newark.
“It kills,” captain Ryan McDonagh said, referring to the Rangers’ continued poor play on special teams, the penalty kill ranked 23rd and power play a similarly dismal 23rd. “It’s really frustrating. We’re doing a lot in our preparation, looking at what teams are doing. We need everybody to execute a lot better.
“It’s costing us too many games. We need to be a lot better in special teams, that’s what it comes down to.”
Defenseman David Schlemko’s powerplay goal with 9:46 remaining, moving the Devils (26205, 57 points) to within two points of the Rangers (27185, 59 points), provided the difference. It was the Devils’ second powerplay goal of the evening — former Ranger Lee Stempniak, who assisted on Schlemko’s tally, had the other — in as many opportunities up a man. The Rangers, conversely, had three chances on the power play, and managed one shot on goal.
“Our power play, other than the last one, wasn’t very good,” Rangers coach Alain Vigneault said. “We’re just not executing right now.
“First period and second period, we didn’t give them a chance 5on5. We’re doing a lot of good things right now. We obviously have to get our special teams going, and that’s my responsibility.”
Schneider, the Devils’ AllStar goaltender, was impressive, making 31 saves, many of them against prime scoring chances. Lundqvist stopped 22 shots, but didn’t face nearly the onslaught.
If not for the stingy Schneider making up for the loose play in front of him, the lead would’ve been larger. He made nine saves in the first period, and nearly half of them were of a high degree of difficulty. He turned away Derick Brassard and Chris Kreider, each of whom on premium chances after Devils giveaways.
“He was one of the better players on the ice,” Vigneault said of Schneider.
Miller looked to have given the Rangers command when his toughangle, rightcircle blast, his seventh in as many games, 15th of the season and second of the game, beat Schneider just 2:06 into the third period. But only 1:07 later, Devils speedster Joseph Blandisi went by Rangers defenseman Dan Girardi like he wasn’t there, and beat Lundqvist near side, pulling New Jersey even at two, the kind of save Schneider made all evening and Lundqvist felt he should’ve had.
“I want that one back,” Lundqvist said. “I was standing there a while, no shots, and maybe I lost focus a little bit there.”
Rookie forward Oscar Lindberg took an interference penalty and Schlemko got the winner, capping another frustrating night for the Rangers, who felt they played better than to leave Newark without as much as a point. It’s been a familiar feeling around the club, echoing positives following defeats.
“I liked our compete level. We were right there, battling hard for pucks,” McDonagh said. “It’s a real small difference at this point. We’re not getting that extra push or extra play needed to make it happen.”