Recap: Rangers Get Embarrassed on Home Ice, Lose 5-1 to New Jersey

In their first meeting of the season, the Rangers hosted their Hudson River Rivals as they kicked off a four game home stand to begin the month of December. Coming off their first win in six games, the Rangers were in a position to put the past behind them and get their season back on track. Instead, they gave up a pair of goals halfway through the opening period and got borderline humiliated on home ice. With their defensive shortcomings at the forefront of another lifeless effort, this team is right back to square one merely a week after their General Manager attempted to make a statement. 

1st Period:

Just like that, the Rangers were back to their sloppy starts. It only took a minute and a half for the Devils to capitalize on an odd-man rush as Braden Schneider got caught in the offensive zone. Jesper Bratt came in on a 2-on-1 and let a quick wrist shot go that beat Igor Shesterkin to become a goal he’s going to wish he could have back. 1-0 Devils. 

It can’t be overstated how bad of a habit these slow starts are becoming for the Rangers. Not only have they allowed goals within the first couple of minutes far too often throughout the start of the season, but they are 2-8-1 when allowing the first goal of the game. That in itself is a major issue surrounding this team but the lack of urgency that follows these slow starts where they allow an early goal against is equally as concerning. 

This continued to cause problems for the Rangers as less than six minutes later, the Devils made it a 2-0 game. A neutral zoner turnover led to yet another defensive zone collapse that allowed for Dawson Mercer to walk through no man’s land between the slot and the point to let a shot go that rolled under the pad of Shesterkin. Again, not a great goal for the Rangers star goaltender to let up. 

Things were on the brink of really getting out of hand as Jack Hughes found himself all alone on a breakaway on the shift that followed goal number two. If there was ever a moment where Shesterkin needed to come up with a save it was there and thankfully, he was patient on the fake and came up with a key save to shut down Hughes. 

Nearing the midway point of the period, Douggie Hamilton earned the first penalty of the night after throwing a puckless Vincent Trocheck into the boards away from the play. The Rangers had a great chance to take some wind out of New Jersey’s sails but instead, the Devils put on an absolute masterclass of a penalty kill, blocking a number of shots to keep the puck from making it to Jacob Markstrom on net. On top of that, they also allowed Jesper Bratt a scoring chance on yet another breakaway that luckily didn’t pose much of a threat. 

With just over two minutes to go in the period, K’Andre Miller nearly put the Rangers on the board as he ripped a shot off the post in the midst of one of the more effective shifts through the early parts of this one. As the period wound down, there wasn’t much of anything to feel good about as the Rangers trailed through the opening twenty. However, despite being down 2-0, they were out-shooting the Devils 12-7, out-attempting them and had the slight advantage in the expected goals for count. 

2nd Period:

The start to the second period wasn’t any better for the Rangers as they were being out-shot 4-0 through the first three minutes of the period. In that span, the Devils nearly extended their lead as they tickled the crossbar on a strange bounce in front of Shesterkin’s crease. As the puck went the other way, the Rangers drew a penalty on a strong rush from Adam Edström as Jonas Siegenthaler was called for hooking. 

On their second man advantage of the night, the Rangers continued to see some chances but couldn’t find an answer to New Jersey’s strong penalty kill. In the dying seconds as the second unit took the ice, it was the kids really attacking the net generating the more serious scoring chances. Have to wonder at what point the coaching staff considers beginning a power play with that second unit in attempts to shake things up. 

About seven minutes into the second, the Rangers were called for their first penalty of the night as Reilly Smith tripped Jack Hughes in front of the Devils’ net. The officials actually quickly met once play stopped to ensure it was Smith’s stick that tripped Hughes and not his own teammates which was pretty refreshing to see. Nevertheless, the Rangers were going to be short handed. 

They would however, come up with an incredible shorthanded scoring chances as Chris Kreider found himself on a rare short handed 2-on-0 with Sam Carrick. Alas, as Kreider went to get a quick shot off, he whiffed on the puck and managed to only get a second chance backhander on net. At what point is it valid to suggest this team is cursed? 

To make matters worse, Adam Fox was called for a stick infraction of his own to give the Devils a brief 5-on-3 advantage. Of course just as the initial penalty to Smith was set to expire, Hamilton fired a one-timer from the point that sailed right past Shesterkin to make it a 3-0 game, keeping New Jersey on the power play for over a minute and a half. The Rangers would hold them off for now but with seven and a half to go in the period, it was Jack Hughes capitalizing on a rebound to make it a 4-0 game. Zero life from this Rangers team. 

Not long after giving up the fourth goal, Jonathan Kovacevic sent the puck over the glass to send the Rangers to the power play for the third time tonight. Finally, the top unit found a way to break through. Off an offensive zone face-off win, Kreider deflected a shot from the point over to Mika Zibanejad. The puck would end up back on Kreider’s stick as he had a wide open net to shoot at to put his team on the board. 4-1 game with a tall mountain still to climb. 

Continuing not to do themselves any favors, Zac Jones was sent off for a delay of game penalty to send the Devils back to the power play. The Rangers came so close to a short handed goal as Zibanejad pulled off a nice move to his backhand in all alone on Markstrom after the Devils’ goaltender turned the puck over. Alas, Markstrom came up with a massive save to turn the puck away. 

The Rangers killed off the rest of the penalty and with two minutes to go in the period, would skate 4-on-4 before eventually being short-handed 4-on-3. Justin Dowling was called for tripping and in a bit of an egregious decision, Will Cuylle was called for embellishment. Very early into that 4-on-4, Kreider was called for interference for a late hit on Jack Hughes and it wouldn’t be long before Hughes converted for his second of the night, 5-1 Devils. 

After forty minutes of play, the Rangers were out-shooting the Devils 31-25 but this game was about as close to rock bottom as you can imagine. The Devils were completely running the show on the Rangers ice and nobody seemed to care. No urgency, no visible frustration, no life. 

3rd Period:

If you did yourself a favor and stopped watching after the second, you truly didn’t miss much.  A late penalty to Erik Haula gave the Rangers a power play to start the third but it didn’t offer much. After registering one shot on goal on a redirect, the Rangers wouldn’t find the net again through the first five minutes of the period. The rest of the period was spent with the Rangers throwing half-hearted shots on net while the Devils played keep away any chance they got. The World’s Most Famous might have been the quietest building in Manhattan.

Final tally for shots on goal were 40-27 in favor of the Rangers but this game couldn't have been less close. With three full days off before the Blueshirts play again, there is going to be a great deal of uncertainty and uneasiness as the questions pile up and the answers get more and more difficult to find.