Devils shutout rival Rangers in Game 7 for 1st series win since 2012

There was no Stephane Matteau, no Mark Messier, no rescue of any kind; only some sloppy turnovers by a bunch of slothful Rangers who seemed to be skating in slush all night.

The swifter, younger Devils decisively put away the Blueshirts Monday, 4-0, in Game 7. One thing was certain, from the start: The home team deserved this grand victory at the Rock. The Devils skated at a different metabolic rate than the Rangers — much, much faster — and the only question was whether an occasional proclivity for dumb penalties would sabotage their effort.

As it turned out, one of those penalties actually led to the winning, shorthanded goal at 9:53 of the second period. At the start of a Ranger power play, the usually-reliable Adam Fox bumbled away the puck. That led to a picture-perfect pass from Ondrej Palat and a tricky backhand shot in the crease by an unlikely hero, Michael McLeod.

McLeod had scored just four goals all season and none since Jan. 4.

“Great play by Palat,” McLeod told ESPN. “The fans are crazy, best I’ve seen here. Tons of fun. It’s a game I grew up imagining.”

With the clock ticking, Gerard Gallant juggled his top line, to no avail. The Devils had great fun dismantling their more glamorous, higher-paid rivals.

Tomas Tatar, who had been point-less in this series, virtually sealed the victory with a seeing-eye shot, high into the net, from just outside the crease at 15:39 of the second period. The pass came from John Marino, who also was also having a futile series.

Erik Haula scored the Devils’ third goal, his fourth in the series, at 14:27 of the third period, off a perfect, East-West pass from Jack Hughes. After that, it was impossible to imagine a comeback by the Rangers, considering their state of confusion. Jesper Bratt added an empty netter, for emphasis.

The fans in Newark chanted, sarcastically, “Igor,” at Shesterkin, but really the defeat was not his fault. This was a systemic failure. It sure looked on Monday that the Devils were the team of both the present and future, while the Rangers will need to retool yet again in order to match this sort of pace.

“Something’s got to change,” Messier said. “Because too much to fix tonight.”

If it were not for Shesterkin, who stoned Hughes on one early breakaway, the Devils would have put this game away even sooner. It was only through his acrobatics that the Rangers survived a scoreless first period.

Meanwhile, Akira Schmid did just fine in the New Jersey net, earning his second shutout of the series. His glove save on Vincent Trocheck in the third period was particularly special. Schmid, 22, drafted 136th in the 2018 draft, spent his last five years toiling on such unglamorous teams as the Lethbridge Hurricanes, Corpus Christi Ice Rays, Omaha Lancers, Sioux City Musketeers and Utica Comets. But the Swiss goalie was plucked off the bench by Lindy Ruff after the Devils’ first two disastrous games of this series, and was very nearly spectacular in four of the five games that he started.

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This first-round series had never been predictable, or consistent. It was more like seven random rolls of the dice. The Rangers romped at the Rock in the first two games, only to be nipped twice at Madison Square Garden. Then came two home-ice blowouts — one by the Devils, 4-0, then one by the Rangers, 5-2.

It was anybody’s guess what would happen next, and last.

The fledgling Devils were supposed to use this series merely to learn about postseason hockey. They needed just two games to do that, and then they instantly, somehow, became experts. They learned, above all, to be themselves. They had one setback, in Game 6, when they took too many stupid penalties. But on Monday, they remembered their greatest asset, speed. There were times when it seemed Hughes was skating all by himself out there in the Newark rink, dipsy-doodling, like Bobby Orr.

The frustrated Rangers had to settle instead for one of those trademark, high-hit, shots from Jacob Trouba on Timo Meier, who was laid out on the ice.

This series victory stands on its own. It’s not like the Devils really required revenge for Matteau, for 1994. They already had that. Since the fateful overtime Ranger victory nearly three decades ago, the Devils had won two series against the Rangers and three Stanley Cups. Besides, this was a mere first-round series, not a conference final.

The Devils will next face the 113-point, first-place Hurricanes in a conference semifinal series. Carolina is far from unbeatable. The Devils beat the Hurricanes the last two times those teams faced each other in the regular season, so this is a winnable series. And with the Bruins out of the picture, there ought to be a sense in Newark that anything can happen.

The Devils just need to skate like the wind, which is clearly in their DNA.