With the start of Tuesday’s game with the Rangers, the Devils have not played a game for more than two weeks due to a team-wide outbreak of the coronavirus. Thirteen players in the Devils series recently came off the COVD-19 protocol list.
Their striker Mackenzie Blackwood, one of the first Devils players to ignite the COVID-19 domino effect, made his first start in almost a month.
But it was the Blueshirts who came out flat-footed, convoluted and eventually played out in the third period to drop their fourth consecutive game in a 5-2 defeat at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday night.
The Rangers had to be the team that was loose, the team that was sharp. However, the Devils were all that stuff during the full 60 minutes, although they have only had one practice to prepare since their last game on January 31st.
In the third period, which was tied at 2-2 – without Jacob Trouba who suffered a torso injury for the second time – the Rangers watched as the discouraged Devils wanted to refuse while making the most of their chances.
A bow from Egor Sharangovich was the winner of the match before Nicholas Merkley hit the shooter out of the air for assurance. Mikhail Maltsev’s empty netter threw salt into the Rangers’ open wound.
Newcomer Networker Igor Shesterkin kept the Rangers alive in the first period and stopped all 16 shots he faced to keep the game pointless. He turned away breakaways from Kyle Palmieri and Andreas Johnsson, including a string of five straight shots on the twelve-minute mark, before concluding the evening with 32 saves on 36 shots.
The Rangers opened the midfield for the penalty kill, waking up after tying a handful of short chances together and firing six unanswered shots on goal to start the period.
With Zibanejad in the cage after making Nathan Bastian with his elbow, Pavel Zacha put the Devils ahead 1-0 at 7:37. It was the first power play the Rangers allowed in seven games and ended a 22-for-22 series on the penalty goal.
Colin Blackwell ended the Rangers’ drought, which spanned four periods, until the result loss for the Bruins on Saturday, when he cut out of the right circle once at Blackwood at 11:32 for his fourth point in his first six games as Ranger. .
The Devils again took the lead at 17:14 by a shot from Will Butcher that apparently deflected in the direction of Trouba. But Pavel Buchnevich tied it up just over two minutes later with a chip from the left.