GAME 3: Devils 3 – Rangers 0
On Tuesday, Jaromir Jagr said he would, “pray a lot and hope for a miracle” in order to play in last night’s Game 3 against the Devils. Jagr’s prayers were answered, but not even divine intervention could help the Rangers at the Garden. This was no Willis Reed 1970 moment, no matter the profile in hockey courage Jagr presented by playing as essentially a one-armed man.
Severely limited by both the brace he wore on his left shoulder only four days after sustaining what is believed to be a dislocation and the pain he was suffering despite taking an injection prior to the game, Jagr was unable to exert his influence on the match that the Devils owned from the first drop of the puck, just the way they have owned this series from the moment it began on Saturday.
It was 3-0 Devils last night and it is 3-0 Devils in this series and this Ranger revival season is now hanging on life support with Game 4 set for the Garden on Saturday afternoon. The Blueshirts will show up, all right, but they’re going to have to reach back to a time long, long ago in order to puncture the hole that is the Devils’ rising balloon.
“I said that if I could play, I would, even though I didn’t help much,” said Jagr, who had one shot on goal in 17:09, and who played his final six shifts with Dominic Moore and Marcel Hossa. “I knew I wasn’t going to be a big factor, but I thought maybe if they had their checking line on me, it would help our other players.
“It didn’t work.”
It didn’t work because the Rangers were unable to work intelligently out of the gate. Instead, they were reckless early and paid the price. With Sandis Ozolinsh victimized again, they fell behind after a poetic 68 seconds when Jamie Langenbrunner converted Patrik Elias’ two-on-one feed to beat Henrik Lundqvist.
If that wasn’t enough to bury the Rangers, the three-on-two rebound on which Elias scored at 9:20 might as well have been accompanied by six feet of dirt. The Rangers weren’t capable and Lundqvist wasn’t heroic.
“It looked like every opportunity, they could score,” said Jagr. “Every time they had a two-on-one or three-on-two, they could make the pass. You can’t even do that in practice.
“I don’t know if we’re that bad defensively or they’re that good offensively, but sooner or later we have to learn how to play against [an odd-man rush].”
The 2-0 score might as well have been 12-0. The Rangers never showed the same gumption as they did in losing on Monday. They couldn’t win an inch of the ice, couldn’t do a thing to disturb the Devils’ overwhelming confidence.
But then, perhaps that was to be expected. The Rangers not only have been outscored 13-2 in this series, they have been outscored 32-9 over their last 22 periods of hockey.
They not only have never led in this series, they have held a lead for only 1:38 of their last 428:27.
They not only have lost three straight in the playoffs, they have lost eight straight overall.
“We didn’t play any good the last 10 games; we were just lucky we had enough points to make the playoffs,” Jagr said.
“I felt if we didn’t change the way we were playing, it was going to be a problem.”
He was right.
—-
At a glance
Rangers vs. Devils
Game Date Site Time TV
Game 1 Saturday Devils 6, Rangers 1 (NJ leads, 1-0)
Game 2 Monday Devils 4, Rangers 1 (NJ leads, 2-0)
Game 3 Last night Devils 3, Rangers 0 (NJ leads, 3-0)
Game 4 Saturday at Rangers 3:00 NBC
x-Game 5 Sunday at Devils 6:00 MSG/FSN
x-Game 6 May 2 at Rangers 7:00 MSG/FSN
x-Game 7 May 4 at Devils TBD MSG/FSN
Radio: Games 1-5 – WFAN (660 AM)/ESPN (1050 AM);
Games 6-7 – ESPN (1050 AM)/WFNY (92.3 FM)
x-if necessary