The New Jersey Devils have turned this into a series, getting a huge win in overtime thanks to Dougie Hamilton and Jesper Bratt. Timo Meier was everywhere in this game, getting under the skin of the New York Rangers. Game four on Monday night is going to be extremely pivotal. The Rangers certainly had chances to win this game, but they missed on a ton of opportunities.
The New York Rangers didn't have an ideal start to game number three. Patrick Kane was assessed a hooking penalty 22 seconds into the opening frame, and Jesper Bratt had a breakaway, but Igor Shesterkin was there to shut the door.
Both teams would have early power play opportunities, but neither came away successfully.
The Rangers were looking a little too fancy in the offensive zone in the early going. Making extra passes for a backdoor opportunity as opposed to getting the puck at the net. They had four giveaways in the opening 13:20 of the game after having three giveaways in all of game one.
The first 20 minutes of game three was probably the most even period that we have seen thus far in this series. Back and forth action, but neither team looked dominant.
The second period had a much more exciting start. It was the same story, a different game. Chris Kreider converted on a 2-on-1 with Zibanejad, Kreider elected to shoot instead of pass, sniping one short side on Akira Schmid for the game's opening goal. This would be Kreider's fifth of the postseason, leading all skaters in the NHL.
The game turned into an absolute circus in the middle frame. Timo Meier was making his mark on the game in every way possible, mixing it up with Barclay Goodrow and even Igor Shesterkin.
Shersterkin threw some punches with his blocker at Meier after a collision in the crease.
The Devils would get a power play opportunity after a large scrum, resulting in a Vladimir Tarasenko unsportsmanlike penalty. This led to a power play goal from Jack Hughes, tying the game at one apiece.
As we headed into the final twenty minutes, the game was all knotted up at 1-1.
The third period had a much more similar vibe to the opening frame. The teams exchanged a couple of scoring chances, but there wasn't much craziness.
The Rangers would get a late power play opportunity but failed to convert for the fifth time of the evening.
Game three would need overtime.
At the 11:36 mark of extra time, Bratt would enter the Rangers' zone with speed and possession, it appeared that his options were limited until he found Dougie Hamilton creeping down the slot.
Bratt fed Hamilton who wasted no time, and sniped Shesterkin high, glove side to give New Jersey the win and get his team back in this series.
This was the Devils' first goal at 5-on-5 of the series.
Game three was by far the most sloppy game of this series thus far. In games one & two, the Rangers only had nine giveaways. They had 19 giveaways in game three alone.
The biggest difference in this game was that the Rangers weren't able to find success on the man advantage. It appeared that Gerard Gallant may have switched things up late in the third period, but confirmed that it wasn't on purpose.
Zibanejad was back in his "office" on the left circle and I asked Gallant if he had made that switch "They do their own thing. Mike [Kelly] talks to them before the game about a plan and I'm sure he said why don't we do a little switch here if we get a chance."
The Rangers had a lot of chances, but it was evident that they didn't play their best game.
Zibanejad had the following to say after the game "It was obviously not good enough today, but I think we know what we have to do. We'll look at it and adjust those things and get back to game four."
The Devils weren't necessarily the better team in this game, but they found a way to win on the road, which is what they were able to do the entire regular season.
The effort was there from the Rangers, but the execution was nowhere near as strong as it was in both games in New Jersey.
One key thing to point out is that Zibanejad and Artemi Panarin have yet to score in this series. I know it's only been three games, but these two have both had plenty of scoring chances, they just haven't been able to find the back of the net.
The energy in Madison Square Garden was electric at the beginning of the night, but as the game went on, they were dying for something to cheer about. The Rangers need to build off of the energy of the crowd and keep them in the game a bit more in game four.
This series is far from over, Monday night should be a fun one.