NEW YORK — All the momentum the New York Rangers built up over their dominating start to the Stanley Cup Playoffs has been silenced thanks to the New Jersey Devils’ top rookie goaltender and a few skill plays.
Jonas Siegenthaler has a career night with two points and Akira Schmid tallied 21 saves in the Devils’ 3-1 Game 4 victory over the Rangers Monday night at Madison Square Garden.
“Tonight we didn’t play hard enough, we didn’t compete hard enough. All we did was yap at the linesmen for getting thrown out of the faceoffs. A lot of bad things tonight,” Rangers head coach Gerard Gallant said following the loss.
For the first time all series, the Rangers were pushed on the defensive end early thanks to the speed and skill of the Devils’ young skaters. After a two-on-one was saved by Schmid, Jack Hughes turned in his own breakaway and gave New Jersey a 1-0 lead after one period of play. For Hughes, it was the third goal of the series.
Schmid would then keep New York’s high-powered offense at bay through the second period. It wasn’t until two minutes into the final period that a Patrick Kane rebound found Vincent Trocheck and the former Hurricane forward tied the game at one.
But the Devils would come through with a major response seven minutes later. On the rush, Siegenthaler shot a laser past Shesterkin that initially went off the post for the 2-1 lead. For Seigenthaler, it was his first career playoff goal in just his third playoff game for the Devils.
“All we did was talking about keep playing the same way. Keep playing the game the right way. We battled hard and all three zones and we just felt that if we get an opportunity we’d get a chance to get the lead again. I thought it was a great jump by Siegenthaler jumping up with the four man attack and we found a hole.” Lindy Ruff said following the team;s response.
An empty net goal from Ondrej Palat and a few more saves from Schmid were just enough to tie the series at two for the Devils, and have the Rangers frustrated at their own performance.
“We obviously didn’t get up to the level of play we want to and that’s something we have to get back to,” Mika Zibanejad stated.
Game 5 between the two teams will begin Thursday night in New Jersey with a 7:30 pm – ET expected start time.
Game Notes
- New York’s powerplay, once a dominant force early in the series, has gone cold over the last two games at home. The Rangers went 0-3 on the man advantage Monday, and are now a combined 0-8 since the series shifted to MSG.
- It didn’t take long for the Rangers and Gallant to adjust the lines after a slow start. After falling behind on the Hughes breakaway, Tarasenko and Panarin ended up working with Zibanejad while Kane and Kreider took shifts with Vincent Trocheck.
- Kane recorded an assist on Trocheck’s tying goal – giving him five throughout the postseason. The tally also tied him and Adam Fox with six points through the first four playoff games for New York.
- Seigenthaler’s goal wasn’t the only memorable moment for him during Monday’s contest. The former Capital also had the lone assist on Hughes’ breakaway goal to give the team an early 1-0 lead. It was the first career playoff point for the 25-year-old.
- Gallant held no bars after the Game 4 loss calling out multiple players and the top line for laziness and a lack of effort. The coach stated that the top guys “didn’t show up enough” while calling out the team multiple times for a lack of focus.
