Post #11: Game 6

What a difference a week makes. When I left The Rock last Thursday, after game two, I was filled with rage, despair, and a deep, hollow pain.

When I left The Rock this Thursday, after game five, I was certain it was the most fun I’ve ever had at a Devils game.

The building was rocking. Watching Rangers fans leave early in the third period while Devils fans waived them to their exits is a sight I won’t soon forget. To state the obvious, I find it nauseating and excruciating that those ugly blue shirts are so well represented any time the Devils-Rangers play at Pru. So refreshing to watch them leave.

As for the game itself, the Devils had a lot go right. And it was a sweet victory.

They stayed disciplined and limited the Rangers power play opportunities.

They continued to suffocate the Rangers through the neutral zone, and Schmid was lights out (again) when the Rangers had high-danger changes.

Most importantly – a few more guys we needed to show up, showed up in a big way. Ondrej Palat had his best game of the series (and maybe as a Devil). And Dawson Mercer buried an enormous shorthanded goal, after ringing the post on a great shot at the end of the first period.

Kevin Bahl had one of the most electric defensive shifts I’ve seen by a Devil in recent memory – crushing three different Rangers in the d-zone before dropping the gloves with Barclay Goodrow.

And Erik Haula had a huge game with 2 goals,1 assist, and a goal-saving defensive play to continue his clutch playoff performance.

I thought Meier had a big impact, with a bunch of grade-A scoring chances while causing chaos and drawing penalties similar to his game two play. Jesper Boqvist, McLeod, and Tomas Tatar had quiet, smart, prudent games. Bastian and Lazar did their thing in limited ice time.

All six defensemen looked sound again – couple of huge blocks from John Marino.

Maybe the best part is that the Rangers played a much better game, and Igor was still their best player by far, and the Devils still found a way to get the job done.

Which is all great news.

But now comes the hardest part of the NHL playoffs: winning the 4th and final game of a series.

The Devils have now provided themselves two opportunities to advance. Their first opportunity will come tonight back at MSG.

It feels like a repeat of my last post at this point, but the Devils just need to continue their recent play.

I don’t think we’ve seen the Rangers best since game two. I thought we would see it in game five. They were better, but you’ve got to assume they will do everything they possibly can to find their game again tonight with their backs against the wall.

That’s obviously what makes me nervous. As dominant as the Devils have been through the last four-five periods of hockey in this series, the Rangers are a deep, veteran team with the top goaltender in the league backstopping them. They will feed off of momentum.

If the Rangers can sneak a few past Schmid early tonight, that worries me. You don’t want to give their roster any confidence, which makes the Devils task all the more difficult.

And a resurgent, confident Rangers group heading into a game 7 would be a nightmare.

So forgive me if the following sounds all-too-familiar:

Weather the storm.

Stay out of the box.

Keep pounding.

What’s been obvious the last three games is that when the Devils are keeping their game simple – pucks out of danger, deep and away from Shesterkin on the dump, and using their speed – they are better than this Rangers team.

To respond, it appears the Rangers will scramble their lines a bit for game 6. Most notably, their new-look top line of Kreider-Zeb-Tarasenko looks heavy. I’d expect them to bring the physicality, fire away, and follow pucks to the net to stir up some chaos.

The Devils have matched Nico & Marino-Graves against Zibanejad this series, and it’s obviously worked well. I think they stick with the same blueprint, and if they’re getting pushed around, you could pull Meier up to that top line in place of Tatar to match up a little better physically.

Lafreniere will get an opportunity on the second line with Kane & Trocheck. That line does not scream defensive specialists – so if they Devils can find a way to get Jack’s line out against that line, I like the matchup there too.

As the home team, however, the Rangers will have last change – making it a bit more difficult for the Devils to control matchups.

Schmid has been remarkable. It’s difficult to imagine him keeping up this level of play, but if the Devils can maintain their as-remarkable defensive play in front of him, it’s conceivable his play can continue for another game.

The Rangers will be emotionally charged and telling themselves they just need to win one game at home.

No backing down. Let’s. Go. Devils.