The teams of the NHL’s second playoff round are clear. The last pair of matches of the first round was decided last night Finnish time in the seventh meeting between the New York Rangers and the New Jersey Devils.
Striker Kaapo Kako and defender Niko Mikkolan represented by the New York Rangers experienced a complete upset when the Devils won 4–0 on their home ice.
Michael McLeod was underpowered to score in the middle of the match. Known for Tampa Bay’s Stanley Cup wins in 2020 and 2021 Ondrej Palat did the preliminary work by grabbing the puck from the carelessly playing Rangers stars From Chris Kreider and From Adam Fox.
The second round had been played at 3:39 p.m., when Tomas Tatar scored 2–0. The pass was given by a defender Josh Marino, who brazenly drove to the goal. Marino’s finishing attempt was not successful, but after that he found Tatari on the goal.
In the third set, the Devils’ Finnish attacker Erik Haula scored the final victory, 3–0, in 54.27. In the situation, the Devils got a three-on-one attack, and Haula shot the puck into the net by Jack Hughes input.
The Rangers quickly took out the goalie. Jesper Bratt scored 4–0 into an empty net in 56.41.
– Obviously, I’m really happy right now. This was one of those games you want to be in, a shutout home win over the Rangers. These are memories that will last forever, the Devils’ Swiss captain Nico Hischier glowed.
One of the stories of the match series was the 22-year-old Swiss goalkeeper Akira Schmidt. He stopped the Devils with a goal in five meetings and his save percentage of 95.1 is the best among players who have played at least two playoff games. In the regular season, he played only 18 matches, but now he replaced the Czech goalkeeper Vitek Vanecek too.
– Excellent! Icy! He seems so patient and plays so well. He was a big part of this series, Tomas Tatar praised the goalkeeper.
In the third period of the match, we saw a couple of talkative and dangerous situations. First, Nico Hischier ran after the puck, but the Rangers goalie met him Igor Shestjorkin got there first. Hischier fell and slid quickly to the Russian keeper’s back.
After that, Erik Haula put the puck into the empty goal, but the game was whistled. Rangers K’Andre Miller got frozen after going to punch Hischier.
Devils got the upper hand. Another Swiss, Timo Meierbrought the puck into the Rangers’ offensive zone while the Rangers’ captain, an often hard-hitting defenseman Jacob Trouba drove against with the blue line.
Trouba nailed Meier violently, but got away without a penalty, which the Devils’ experienced head coach said Lindy Ruff it was hot. Meier was treated on the surface of the ice, but he finally got off the field under his own power. Meier no longer played, but was involved in the handshakes after the match.
The youthful New Jersey Devils were one of the biggest surprises of the regular season. It collected 112 points and finished second behind Carolina in the Metropolitan Division. Rangers got five points less.
The Rangers had a great start to the series. It won both of the Devils’ home games, clearly 5–1. Then the Devils, respectively, claimed two victories at Madison Square Garden. After that, the Devils took the third game as well, but the Rangers were still able to stretch the series to a stalemate.
Compared to all other teams, Rangers made the biggest acquisitions in the winter transfer window. Experienced Stanley Cup winners joined the team Patrick Kane and Vladimir Tarasenko.
The acquisitions could only mix up Rangers’ game. The superstars experienced in the playoff series were completely overwhelmed by the speedy Devils, as Urheilu’s NHL reporter Tommi Seppälä previously wrote.
Now in the deciding game, among the Rangers’ stars, Kreider was on the ice during every Devils goal, Tarasenko and Mika Zibanejadin the plus-minus reading was -3.
Rangers head coach Gerard Gallant addressed the problem areas after the match quite directly.
– I love the talent we have. But I also love the work ethic and the offensive zone hair game and stuff like that. We just couldn’t get it taken care of.
The pairings of the next round of matches and the Finnish players still aiming for the Stanley Cup are now clear. You can find them below.
In the most recent episode of Ika änär, we talked about prison rules and the referee’s line, goalkeepers and the Finns of Dallas. You can find all episodes of Ika änäri in this link.
East:
Toronto to Florida
Carolina–New Jersey
West:
Vegas to Edmonton
Dallas–Seattle
(powers and average ice time in the 1st round of the playoffs in parentheses)
Florida:
Aleksander Barkov (1+5=6, 21.45)
Anton Lundell (0+4=4, 16.39)
Eetu Luostarinen (2+3=5, 15.56)
Caroline:
Sebastian Aho (4+3=7, 18.57)
Jesperi Kotkaniemi (0+1=1, 16.53)
Teuvo Teräväinen (0, 14.59, arm broken in the second match)
Jesse Puljujärvi (0+1=1, 10.40am)
Antti Raanta (5 matches, 90.6%, GAA 2.59)
New Jersey:
Erik Haula (4+2=6, 18.53)
Dallas:
Miro Heiskanen (0+6=6, 29.03)
Esa Lindell (0+1=1, 21.44)
Jani Hakanpää (0, 21.38)
Roope Hintz (5+7=12, 19.10, leads the playoffs point exchange)
Joel Kiviranta (0+2=2, 11.25)
Seattle:
Eeli Tolvanen (1+2=3, 17.07)
East:
Toronto Maple Leafs – Tampa Bay Lightning match wins 4–2
Boston Bruins – Florida Panthers 3–4
Carolina Hurricanes – New York Islanders 4–2
New Jersey Devils – New York Rangers 4–3
West:
Vegas Golden Knights – Winnipeg Jets 4–1
Edmonton Oilers – Los Angeles Kings 4–2
Dallas Stars – Minnesota Wild 4–2
Colorado Avalanche – Seattle Kraken 3–4
The Stanley Cup winners of the 16 previous seasons are now out. The previous Stanley Cup winner who is still in the playoffs is the Carolina Hurricanes. It won in 2006.