Not only was Saturday night’s Game 3 win a big one for the Devils to stave off a dire 3-0 hole to the Rangers, but it was a learning lesson for a New Jersey team still very green in the postseason. The largely inexperienced group now has a taste of what it’s like to have to battle through a close game in the playoffs and come out victorious on the other side.
Game 3 was by no means an easy win for New Jersey, which trails the best-of-seven series 2-1. The Rangers generated plenty of chances and rookie netminder Akira Schmid made a number of big stops, but the Devils pushed back themselves forcing Igor Shesterkin to make a few big stops of his own before they finally bested him in overtime.
The Devils clearly needed the victory, but equally as valuable was the experience that came along with it.
“Honestly, it’s pretty big,” Curtis Lazar told amNewYork after the game. “You try and learn as a young team, but coming in this room after and seeing the guys, the look on their faces it looked like something clicked. We’re kind of like that’s how we need to play. And that’s great news for us, because we know that we’re that speed game, but we know how to defend as well. You know, we take our chances when they’re there. But if they’re not you’re gonna get back or you stay patient.
“Like I said, I mean we kind of matured overnight and it’s great to see you but that’s one thing and we’re gonna do it again and again and again so big for our team. The beliefs back in here and that’s the beauty of playoffs.”
The Devils have been known as a team with skill and speed, but their lack of playoff experience had shown through the first two games of the series. New Jersey struggled on the power play and has been outscored 10-2 in the series going into Game 3.
They finally showed the fight needed on Saturday night, limiting the Rangers’ scoring and playing a more physical game. The Devils outhit the Rangers 31-23 as the nastiness picked up.
“I think it’s huge when you’re when you break it down,” Devils head coach Lindy Ruff said about the win and what his team can learn from it. “You look at either being 0-3 or 2-1 and now you’ve got your first taste. We’ve had to deal with the thought of losing a game. The emotion of losing a second game and trying to pick the team up and get ready for a third game and say listen, ‘we talked about this. we don’t know a lot of things.’ A lot of ups and downs in the series and things can change in a hurry. So you know I think it would have been tough on the group to go down 0-3.
“But you know, I think the momentum you can gain from winning that game and the belief that ‘yeah, we can play a tight game. We can play a low-chance game,’ which is sometimes is a playoff game. Give them a lot of credit, they didn’t give us much. There wasn’t much out there. So to win that game, in playoff form I thought was a real good accomplishment by our team.”
Now that the Devils have been reassured they can win a close game in the postseason, they’ll need to be ready to do it again on Monday when they’re back at Madison Square Garden for Game 4.
