The narrative coming into this series was the experience of the New York Rangers going up against the young and talented New Jersey Devils. The experience was clearly not a factor in game three and game four as the Devils' rookie goaltender, Akira Schmid, stepped into the blue paint and won back-to-back games.
Nobody can take away what Akira Schmid has done for the New Jersey Devils since stepping into this series in game three at Madison Square Garden.
Schmid enters this contest boasting a .966 save percentage and a 0.91 goals-against average. There is no denying the fact that Schmid has been impressive, but have the New York Rangers truly challenged him enough?
In yesterday's media availability, the Rangers' head coach, Gerard Gallant said "We haven't been inside near enough. The first two games it was excellent. I read some notes I had there for after the first two games, what we did really well. There was a lot of good things. You go back and look at the notes and look at the game, we haven't been inside near enough. It's hockey. Every coach is saying the same thing. When you get inside, you get screens, you get rebounds, you get deflections instead of missing the net and going the other way. It's a lot of little things, but you got to do them well to win games."
It's evident from the coach's perspective that the Rangers got away from the good habits that we saw in game one and game two, but the good news is that these things are fixable.
Another positive for the Rangers is how much success the road teams have had in these playoffs. Home ice advantage doesn't appear to be a thing in the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Gallant in response to the success of road teams so far "From what's going on in the NHL, I'm glad we're going on the road."
It doesn't matter which building this game is being played in, the pressure is now on.
The Rangers put their top six forwards back in order at practice yesterday. Mika Zibanejad was in between Chris Kreider and Patrick Kane, while Vincent Trocheck was up the middle with Artemi Panarin and Vladimir Tarasenko. Line shuffling aside, in my opinion, game five is all about the goaltending.
Schmid and Shesterkin have both given their team an opportunity to win in the games that they have started, but now with this game being so imperative to the remainder of the series, which of these two netminders will outshine the moment?
In this series, Shesterkin has been lights out, but the team's performance in the last two games has overshadowed his stellar play. The former Vezina trophy winner is skating to a 1.44 goals against average and a .941 save percentage. Not to mention the league's best +4.1 goals saved above expected.
Shesterkin hasn't feared the big games in his early career. In game 5's, 6's and 7's combined, he has a record of 5-3-0 with a .928 save percentage and a 2.50 goals against average. Schmid impressed us early on in his first two starts, but he has yet to play in a game of this magnitude in his early career.
With that being said, it appears that the presence of Schmid in goal with a cool, calming presence, presents a different feel to this Devils team. New Jersey's captain, Nico Hischier had this to say about the young netminder "Obviously a little surprised he could step it up when we needed it the most. It's not easy. The spotlight at MSG, to come in and play so well for us, big props to him for sure."
The Devils certainly made adjustments with Schmid in goal, but now it's the Rangers' turn to make some changes in order to rattle the Devils' netminder. Adam Fox said "Credit to their D-men, they've been keeping us to the outside, but he's a goalie who's coming in you want to get traffic, you want to get some rebounds and some dirty goals around his crease. He's played well, but I think we could definitely test him a little more and cause a little more havoc in front."
The Rangers haven't been known to be a team that scores "ugly goals", but I have no doubt that getting pucks to the net and bodies to the net, will be an emphasis for the game plan.
Nobody was sure of what to expect from Schmid in his first two starts, not even his own teammates. Knowing that the home team has yet to win a game in this series, the pressure might be more on the Devils than it is on the Rangers at this point. With the last two games being relatively even, the difference makers in this vitally important game five will ultimately be the men in the blue paint.
I'm not saying experience is everything, because clearly in this series, it hasn't been. But going into a pivotal game five, there aren't many goaltenders that can be trusted more to steal a big game than Igor Shesterkin.
Is this finally where the experience factor will kick in? Let's see which goalie can steal a game.