The New Jersey Devils trail their best of seven first-round series with their Hudson River Rivals the New York Rangers 2-0 after two embarrassing losses on home ice thanks in large part to due to their power play.
Entering the series, special teams were going to play a factor. As we saw last year when the Rangers power play gets cooking it is hard to stop. The Devils needed to stay out of the penalty box. Now penalties are going to happen. However, dumb penalties, and badly timed penalties end up in the back of your net. And that is what we have seen through two games.
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The powerplay and the inability to score for the Devils is the difference in this series. Yes, experience and knowing how to execute in the playoffs are factors as well, but the Rangers have four power-play goals and the Devils have one. But special teams can make or break a series and right now the Devils special teams are hurting them.
As in Game 1, penalty trouble plagued the Devils. And the Rangers executed their power play to perfection.
“Special teams, that’s pretty much the story of this game,” Timo Meier said post-game, “We’re not doing a good job on the power play, and they’re doing a good job on the power play, scoring. That puts you down a couple of goals. We’ve got to clean up some things.”
Things started off well for the Devils on their power play as Erik Haula opened the scoring to make it 1-0 Devils. The Devils second power play unit struck by shooting the puck and creating traffic in front of Rangers goalie Igor Shesterkin.
Go back to Game 1. The Devils had two power plays inside the first 10 minutes of the hockey game and got zero shots. New Jersey continues to pass up opportunities to shoot. However, on the Haula goal, Ondrej Palat through the puck towards the net. Michael McLeod deflected it and Haula potted the rebound.
Other than that the power play has been non-existent. The Devils are having a hard time entering the zone. Give credit to the Rangers penalty killers for knowing where to be and who to shut down. The Rangers penalty killers are much more aggressive than the Devils penalty killers.
The Devils are passing up opportunities to shoot the puck, especially Hughes and Jesper Bratt. They are trying to get too fancy looking for the perfect pass. Meanwhile, when the Rangers establish the zone, they are shooting the puck from everywhere.
Through two games, the “Mr. Powerplay” himself Chris Kreider has four power-play goals. Two in Game 1 and two in Game 2. All four goals came in front of the net. Or by shooting the puck on the net.
Last season, Kreider scored 26 power-play goals all coming in front of the net through two games in this series. He only had eight power-play goals this season. Now, a big reason for his drop is that the Rangers like the cross-ice pass to Mika Zibanejad for the one-timer. Hard to argue that logic when Zibanejad had 20 power-play goals this season.
But with the addition of Patrick Kane to the power play, Zibanejad moved to the bumper. Thus the need to look to Kreider more in front of the net.
“They’re shooting more pucks and Kreider is getting more opportunities to put it in the net,” Rangers coach Gerard Gallant said post-game. “The power play was good all year, but right now it’s clicking pretty well. We’re putting pucks to the net and ‘Kreids’ gets a chance to chip ’em.”
Again something the Devils are not doing. In Game 2, the Rangers went 2-for-7 on the power play. They are 4-for-10 in the series. The Devils went 1-for-4 on the power play in Game 2. They are now 1-for-8 in the series. That is the difference.
The Devils have yet to score an even-strength goal in the series. Hughes scored on a penalty shot, while Haula scored on the power play.
The Devils have to get back to simple hockey on the power play similar to what the Rangers are doing or else this series will be over in four games.