New Jersey Devils 3 Keys To Victory Vs. New York Rangers
It’s finally here. New Jersey Devils game day, Stanley Cup Playoffs edition. With so much excitement, how can the Devils take down their Hudson River Rivals, the New York Rangers?
Welcome to New Jersey Devils playoff hockey. After five long years, the Devils are back in the postseason. This one feels different, too. The Devils were just happy to be there in 2018. They secured a playoff berth in Game 81, holding off a surging Florida Panthers team thanks to Taylor Hall and Keith Kinkaid. They were facing the loaded Tampa Bay Lightning, and they ended up with only one postseason win.
This season, the Devils recorded a franchise-record 112 points. On paper, they are legit Stanley Cup contenders. They lead the league in multiple crucial stats, and only two NHL teams (Boston and Dallas) have a better goal differential. They won 51 games, second to the record-setting Bruins for most in the league. This is a great team.
Now, they have to do it in the playoffs. Unfortunately, because of the current playoff format, they have to face the New York Rangers, who were just as good all season. Their strengths and flaws couldn’t be more different. The good news is the Devils seem to have the Rangers number, going 3-0-1 in the regular season, but that could mean nothing in the playoffs. To actually stop the Rangers, they have to focus on stopping their strengths.
New Jersey Devils key to victory #1: Pepper Shesterkin with High-Danger Chances
The Devils faced Igor Shesterkin in all four games this season. He only won one. In those games, he allowed 13 goals on 140 shots. Not great, but definitely not terrible. However, he hasn’t been as good at stopping the high-danger chances. In his first game, the Devils had nine high-danger chances at 5v5 (according to Natural Stat Trick). They scored on three of those chances.
That was back in November when the Devils were at their best, and Shersterkin was far from it. In the second matchup in December, the Devils blitzed the Rangers with 13 HDCF, with the Rangers only recording 3 at 5v5. The Devils only got two past Shesterkin, but it was enough to win. In their January matchup, Shesterkin stole the show. He faced 18 high-danger chances and stopped all but one. He stole this one for the Rangers.
Shesterkin has the best goals saved above average against high-danger chances in the NHL this season. He sits at 18, which is insane. Vanecek is at -5. Shesterkin stops high-quality chances at an incredible clip. The Devils need them early and often. They cannot let the Rangers match their chances in any game.
The most important matchup between these two teams came on March 30th. Despite so many new pieces (Patrick Kane and Vladimir Tarasenko for the Rangers, Timo Meier for the Devils), the result was the same. The Devils dominated the quality chances. Only one of the 14 got past the reigning Vezina Trophy winner, but it was enough to take a 2-1 victory. The Devils need to follow this formula in the best-of-7 series to gain victory.
New Jersey Devils key to victory #2: Stay out of the box
The New Jersey Devils had a great penalty kill this season. They ranked fourth in the league, stopping the man advantage 82.61 percent of the time. However, the Rangers power play is just different. They score 24 percent of the time. In 15 PP minutes against the Devils, they have just two goals. Still, a PP goal can change the series in an instant.
The best way to avoid power play goals is to avoid the penalty kill entirely. This is one of the most disciplined teams in the league, with just 7.7 penalty minutes per game. That ranks 28th in the league. The Rangers are actually 29th, so don’t expect a lot of players in the box.
There’s one key here. The Devils need to avoid this series getting chippy. If the Devils start to attack the Rangers with speed, they could get nasty to respond. Jacob Trouba is known to make a borderline hit when his team needs a spark. That’s where the experience really comes into play. Just like Ted Lasso’s AFC Richmond team in the most recent season, emotions running high isn’t necessarily a good thing.
Lindy Ruff has to preach one thing to this Devils team; stay disciplined. They cannot afford to hand chances to the Rangers on a silver platter. They want to keep this game at 5v5 as much as possible.
New Jersey Devils key to victory #3: Make The Easy Saves
Yeah, sure. Duh. The Devils and Vitek Vanecek must stop the puck from entering the net. That much is obvious when Shesterkin is on the other side of the rink. However, the real power comes in stopping all the easy shots. Vanecek has been splendid against low-danger chances this season. It’s a breath of fresh air after years of softies going into the back of the net.
Among goalies with at least 20 starts, Vanecek is ninth in average goal distance. The average goal is scored from almost 19 feet away (again, according to NST).
Vanecek is going to allow goals on high-quality chances. Like we said earlier, his HDGSAA is -5.6, good for 51st in the league. The good news is the Devils don’t allow too many high-danger chances. They’ve allowed the fewest high-danger chances at all strengths by a considerable margin.
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Of the 222 goals against the Devils this year, 103 were of low or medium danger. That’s not terrible, but Vanecek has to be a little better. (To be fair, that number includes Mackenzie Blackwood and Akira Schmid.) He needs to ensure that the only goals that get by him are saves nobody can make. The Devils will make sure the great chances are few and far between. Vanecek is key in making sure the Rangers stay off the board.