Rangers Use Familiar Blueprint, Grab Game 3 Victory Over Devils

Sandwiched around the Game 2 victory, the Devils suffered a pair of 3-0 losses that shared almost identical scripts:

While the anger of losing by a second 3-0 count in the series has to leave a bitter taste in their collective mouths, NJ did do some things better in Game 3 than they had in the series opener:

The Rangers hold a tight 2-1 lead over their neighboring foes, so playing shorthanded could be venturing in to dangerous territory for the Blueshirts. It’s hard to imagine Prust not missing at least one game, as you can see from the video below, in cased you missed it during Saturday afternoon’s game.

via Fred Murtz

So it wasn’t Artem Anisimov who netted the game-winner, but the Rangers probably don’t care. Ryan Callahan grabbed the empty netter with 2:13 to go in the third, and that’ll just about wrap up this one from Prudential Center.

A complete carbon copy of Game 1, as the Rangers somehow held off the scary-good Devils forecheck in the first and second periods with help from Henrik Lundqvist. At the start of the third period, New York completely took over the hockey game. They got their skating legs under them and well … they woke up. They simply allowed the Devils to dictate the game early, and it might not be a perfect blueprint, but it’s worked for the Rangers twice in the series.

Here’s what we in the aftermath of Game 1 in this series:

Now, Game 3: Girardi has a goal early in the third. Kreider scored 5:16 into the third to give New York a 2-0 lead. Just waiting on that Anisimov empty-netter now.

Tell me if you’ve seen this before. Dan Girardi’s early third period goal has given the New York Rangers a lead over the New Jersey Devils after two periods of utter dominance by the Devils yielded nothing on the scoresheet.

The Rangers have a 1-0 lead, and if the script remains the same in the remainder of Game 3, they’re going to run all over New Jersey in the third en route to a 2-1 series lead. We’ll see.

As they did at the start of the game, Devils took it right to the Rangers at the start of the period and forced John Tortorella to take a timeout. The Rangers seemed to get the message as they improved on the sluggish start to create some action on the offensive end. Despite controlling the game through much of the first 40 minutes, the Devils have been unable to break through against the Vezina finalist Lundqvist. New Jersey has gone on the power play three times, but has had little success putting together scoring chances against the Rangers’ penalty kill.

SB Nation New York will have coverage from both sides throughout the Eastern Conference Finals. For all news and information regarding the New York Rangers, please visit Blueshirt Banter. For updates and perspective on the New Jersey Devils, head on over to In Lou We Trust. For complete coverage of the 2012 NHL Stanley Cup playoffs, stay tuned to SB Nation’s dedicated NHL hub.

Should make that another failed power play opportunity for the Devils. Just nothing going on three power play chances for them today. They’re frankly better off at five-on-five, in terms of the number of scoring chances generated.

This game shouldn’t be 0-0, but you get the sense that the longer it continues this way, the better of it is for New York. It’s starting to feel a whole lot like Game 1, where New Jersey dominated play, the Rangers survived and then took over in the third period.

Scoring chances have been traded back and forth between the Devils and Rangers at even strength in Period 2, but New Jersey’s getting plenty of opportunity to take the lead with the man advantage. The Devils are set for their second power play of the period after John Mitchell was called for interference at the 14:04 mark of the period. He bumped Petr Sykora along the boards to earn the penalty — definitely a fair call by the officials.

New York’s already killed a Mike Rupp tripping penalty, but it seems like only a matter of time before these penalties come back to bite them.

It might be safe to say now that John Tortorella’s time out did wonders for the New York Rangers. Shot attempts have been about even since the stoppage at the 1:51 mark of the second period in Game 3, but the Rangers clearly have more jump in their step and New Jersey hasn’t been able to dominate the Rangers with their forecheck as they have for much of the game so far.

Perhaps the timeout did help the Rangers a bit. Henrik Lundqvist has been great for them at his end of the ice, and after John Tortorella yelled at his team, they seem to have a bit of extra jump.

The Devils are still in control, but somehow this game is still 0-0, and New York was inches from taking the (frankly undeserved) 1-0 lead when Ryan Callahan gathered the puck at the goal mouth with a wide open net to shoot at. The only reason it didn’t go in? Martin Brodeur’s diving save.

What a sneaky little elbow by Brandon Prust. The Rangers forward threw his elbow right into the head of Anton Volchenkov, sending the Devils defenseman down to the ice on all fours. Really nasty stuff, but the officials missed it completely.

We’ll have to assume that it’ll be looked at by Brendan Shanahan and the NHL’s Department of Player Safety. From there? Your guess is as good as any.

Henrik Lundqvist is the only reason the New Jersey Devils do not have a lead, as the first period woes for New York have carried over to the second period.

John Tortorella is really, really angry. Timeout called by the Rangers, and that’s probably a little overdue.

So much for that power play chance for the Rangers. Just nothing open for them after a great penalty kill from the Devils.

Typical. After an awful start in the first round against Florida, New Jersey’s PK has been phenomenal against Philadelphia and New York. It’s just as aggressive as they are at five-on-five, and they swarm the puck carrier so effectively that the guy doesn’t even know what to do.

The beauty of hockey. Or perhaps the agony of hockey. The Devils have completely controlled Game 1 so far. They’re winning every single puck battle, they’re establishing their forecheck with force, they’re making the Rangers take extra long shifts on defense thanks to their relentless puck pursuit, and they’re letting Martin Brodeur just watch it all like any other spectator.

But Ryan McDonagh just won a one-on-one battle with Ilya Kovalchuk, the Devils forward got his stick up, and we have a Rangers power play. Despite the awful start, New York could take a 1-0 lead with just one shot on the power play.

Hey, look: John Tortorella is already shifting his lines around a little bit. Carl Hagelin has dropped off the top line with Marian Gaborik and Brad Richards — a line that was so good for the Rangers in the series against the Capitals, in particular — and has been placed with Derek Stepan and Ryan Callahan.

The Rangers penalty kill has been solid so far in the Eastern Conference Finals, and as they’ve started Game 3 with absolutely zero jump, they’ve needed that to remain the same. Luckily for New York, it has.

New Jersey attempted just one shot during their first power play opportunity of the game, which came thanks to a two minute minor on Derek Stepan for hooking.

It hasn’t been the start the Rangers have wanted. The Devils have been able to establish their forecheck — again — early in Game 3, and the Rangers — again — seem incapable of keeping up. These sorts of things turn into power plays for the Devils, and they can thank Derek Stepan for the hooking minor this time.

Steve Eminger is in the lineup on defense for the Rangers in Game 3, replacing Stu Bickel on the third pairing. On Eminger’s first shift, it appeared as if he tried to do just a bit too much, pinching at the blue line.

The puck got past him and it turned into a 2-on-1 for New Jersey. Fortunately for the Rangers, Michael Del Zotto made a great defensive play at his own blue line. Del Zotto got his stick on the pass attempt from Adam Henrique to David Clarkson. Crisis averted.

But while the Devils may now have home ice, there will surely be an infiltration of Rangers fans in Newark on Saturday afternoon, despite New Jersey’s best efforts. Travis Hughes writes that the Devils outplayed the Rangers for a majority of the first two games, prompting coach John Tortorella to try and take the spotlight off his team with his terse press conference. His team will be back in the crosshairs and on the ice, looking to reclaim the series lead Saturday. Schedule and broadcast information below:

SB Nation New York will have coverage from both sides throughout the Eastern Conference Finals. For all news and information regarding the New York Rangers, please visit Blueshirt Banter. For updates and perspective on the New Jersey Devils, head on over to In Lou We Trust. For complete coverage of the 2012 NHL Stanley Cup playoffs, stay tuned to SB Nation’s dedicated NHL hub.