Rangers 3, Devils 2: Bottled up

The Devils had a tough time creating at 5v5, tying a season-low in high-danger shots on target.

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The New Jersey Devils suffered another setback on Thursday, dropping a game to the rival New York Rangers in extra time.

Here are a few observations from the game:

The Devils were bottled up 🍼

New Jersey feasted on New York in previous matchups this season, winning both games and outscoring them 10-1 in aggregate.

One big reason was the Devils’ ability to create offense in transition. Be it from crisp breakouts, forced turnovers, or taking advantage of bad pinches, the Devils were able to quickly get the puck up ice in odd-man situations and generate Grade A looks in bulk off the rush. That was not the case last night.

The Rangers did a much better job of sustaining shifts in the offensive zone and putting a bottle on the Devils’ offense.

Stealing football terms, they essentially stuck to a two-high look and didn’t allow the Devils to take the top off the defense. Everything was kept in front of them – and it worked.

They didn’t give the Devils easy opportunities and defended in waves. This led to a lot of situations where the Devils simply skated pucks into traffic and turned it over.

The script flipped, in a way, and it was the Rangers sticking to structure, forcing mistakes, and generating offense on the counter attack as a byproduct. The game-winning goal in overtime was a perfect example of that.

I think the Rangers deserve credit for how they defended. I also think it could’ve been some pent-up frustration for the Devils.

They have not been winning much, they have not been scoring much, and it sort of seemed as they resorted to some bad habits and let frustration set in.

The Devils rank Top-10 in high-danger chance generation when within a goal, averaging well over 11 per 60 minutes.

Last night – despite the Devils never being in a position where they could let-up offensively – they generated only five high-danger chances in 50 minutes; and just two on target, their lowest of the season.

Jack Hughes was a mixed bag 💼