from Larry Brooks of the New York Post,
After 60 minutes of relentless hockey from a team possessed, after three straight victories, one more impressive and decisive than the next, this is what we know five games into this Battle of the Hudson:
There is no quit in New Jersey.
The Rangers, on the other hand, we’ll find out if they can live up to their very own mantra when they take the Garden ice on Saturday facing Game 6 elimination following Thursday’s 4-0 paddy whacking at the Rock.
“Win one game,” Chris Kreider said. “The playoffs are comprised of highs and lows and we’re at a low point right now. If we can’t climb our way out of this, we don’t deserve to go on a deep run.
“Win one game.”
The roof is falling in on the marquee Rangers. They have scored two goals in the last three games — one goal in the last 127:57 — against freshman netminder Akira Schmid, who is turning himself into an instant folk hero. After scoring four power-play goals on their first seven opportunities, the Rangers have been blanked since the second period of Game 2.
That is not the worst of it, for while going 0-for-13 in the interim, the Blueshirts have yielded a pair of PPG’s to the Devils plus a shorthanded score in this one that seemed to break the Rangers.
Listen to this: Trailing 3-0 after the second period, the Rangers were outshot 20-2 in the third period.
from Mark Lazerus of The Athletic,
But a funny thing happened across the Hudson River. The Devils found their game, and the Rangers lost the plot. Suddenly, its New York that looks overwhelmed by New Jerseys speed, by a 22-year-old goalie with 26 NHL games under his belt, and yes, even by the moment. The Rangers are wide-eyed and flat-footed, watching helplessly as the perhaps too-young-to-know-any-better Devils skate circles around them. After two emphatic 5-1 wins in Newark, the Rangers have totaled just two goals over three straight losses, including a 4-0 loss Thursday, putting them on the brink of elimination with Game 6 on Saturday night at Madison Square Garden. Down 3-0 entering the third period, there was no urgency, no desperation from the Rangers, who went out with a whimper, putting just two shots on goal on Akira Schmid in the last 20 minutes.
Perhaps most alarming was how calm the Rangers seem to be about it all. Youd like to see some emotion from the Rangers, some visible anger and frustration. Maybe not a table flip or a broken chair, but something. Instead, the postgame locker room was tame. Jacob Trouba, Chris Kreider and Adam Fox all talked quietly, almost shrugging off the situation as no big deal. And there is some precedent for that mindset. Last spring, they fell behind 3-1 to the Penguins in the first round before rattling off three straight wins. Then they fell behind 3-2 to the Hurricanes before two big routs put them in the conference finals.
The Rangers can do this. They know that. But its going to take a lot more than this.
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