Entering Tuesday’s game with the Rangers, the Devils had not played a game in more than two weeks due to a outbreak of coronavirus throughout the team. Thirteen players in the Devils’ line had recently been removed from the COVD-19 protocol list.
Their goalkeeper Mackenzie Blackwood, one of the first Devil players to light up the COVID-19 domino effect, made his first start in almost a month.
But it was the Blueshirts who came out with their feet flat, wrapped up and were eventually overtaken in the third period to give up their fourth straight game in a 5-2 loss to Madison Square Garden on Tuesday night.
Rangers should have been the weak team, the sharp team. However, the Devils proved to be all those things during the 60 minutes, despite having prepared a single practice since their last game on January 31st.
Entering the third period tied at 2-2 – without Jacob Trouba, who suffered an upper body injury in the second – the Rangers watched as the Devils should have been tired refusing to stagger as they took full advantage of their chances.
A deflection by Yegor Sharangovich proved to be the winner of the game, before Nicholas Merkley blew the puck out of the air to account for the insurance. Mikhail Maltsev’s empty net poured a little salt into the Rangers’ open wound.
Novice netminder Igor Shesterkin kept the Rangers alive for the first time, stopping all 16 shots he faced to keep the game unbeaten. He gave up escapades from Kyle Palmieri and Andreas Johnsson, including a series of five straight shots at the 12-minute mark, before ending the night with 32 saves on 36 shots.
Opening the midfield to the penalty kick, the Rangers woke up after grabbing a handful of short chances and pouring six unanswered shots into the goal to start the period.
With Zibanejad in the box after elbowing Nathan Bastian, Pavel Zacha gave the Devils the lead 1-0 at 7:37. It was the first goal Rangers allowed in seven games and ended a 22-for-22 penalty shootout.
Colin Blackwell put an end to the Rangers ‘four-game drought, dating back to the Bruins’ stalemate loss on Saturday, when he pulled a Blackwood pass from the right circle at 11:32 for the fourth point in his first six games like Ranger. .
The Devils took the lead again at 5:14 p.m. from a Will Butcher shot that seemed to deflect in front of Trouba. But Pavel Buchnevich tied it up again just over two minutes later with a shot from the left circle.