2023 Stanley Cup Playoff Preview: Devils vs. Rangers

No series in these Stanley Cup Playoffs better represents the Eastern Conference’s changing of the guard than this one.

Amid the first post-season in a decade-and-a-half that won’t feature Sidney Crosby or Alex Ovechkin, the young, high-flying Devils — who make their playoff return for the first time in five years — look every bit a squad ready to come for the crown.

That they finished a point off the Metropolitan Division title, a title New Jersey hasn’t claimed since Jack Hughes was nine years old, was a statement in itself. This time last year, the club ranked seventh in the Metro was on the outside looking in. It was the same story the year prior, even worse the year before that. Now, as the Devils find themselves among the most dangerous clubs in the East, they’ll get the real test — a showdown with their Hudson River rivals, pitting the up-and-comers against the seasoned vets.

For both clubs, this first-round bout is the culmination of upward journeys.

In Newark, it’s just about being part of the playoff glory again, about the slow and steady progression that started with Nico Hischier and then Hughes, the arrival of Dougie Hamilton, and the massive step taken in 2023. At Madison Square Garden, the trajectory’s been pointed in a similar direction, the Rangers trending upwards for the past few years since The Letter, before taking their own significant step last year with a three-round run.

Both enter Game 1 having loaded up at the deadline, the Devils bringing in another young gamebreaker, Timo Meier, while the Rangers added a pair of veteran champions, Vladimir Tarasenko and Patrick Kane. Which climb wins out?

HEAD-TO-HEAD RECORD

Devils: 3-0-1

Rangers: 1-2-1

THE BREAKDOWN

The balance between the big-picture identities of these two clubs is borne out in the way they play the game.

New Jersey enters the post-season with one of the most dangerous offences in the league, their attack tenacious, high-paced, and lethal in transition. The Rangers have no shortage of elite skill — Tarasenko and Kane joining a group that already boasted Artemi Panarin, Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider, not to mention blue-liner Adam Fox — but trying to run with the young Devils seems a risky game. Instead, the path to Round 2 for New York seems more likely to come through leaning on their veteran savvy, being opportunistic with their chances, and punishing their more inexperienced opponents when they slip up.

It’s not an easy ask for Gerard Gallant’s club, though. Through four games during the regular season, it was Jersey who came out on top, the Devils winning three of four meetings and pushing the Rangers to overtime in the one game they did lose.

If Gallant’s Rangers do have an edge, it’ll be in the antithesis of the Devils’ style — in the battles along the boards and in the corners, in hard-won puck battles and stiff forechecks. In that aspect of the game, these Devils have been less prolific, a potential red flag given it’s in these battles that playoff games tend to be won or lost. And in that area, the Rangers’ size advantage and more physical approach should level the playing field somewhat.

Bigger-picture, though, this series might just come down to who handles the weight of the moment better. Both clubs have everything they need to win games, the Devils looking unstoppable all year, and the Rangers housing a murderer’s row of all-stars. Back in the playoffs for the first time in years — the first time of 99-point man Jack Hughes’ career — the Devils have to ensure they don’t let their high-risk, high-reward game descend into overexcited recklessness. While the Rangers, hoping to build on what they’ve done, need to lean on their experience and chart a steady, measured path through.

ADVANCED STATS

(5-on-5 totals via Natural Stat Trick)

REGULAR SEASON TEAM STATS

Devils X-Factor: Vitek Vanecek

Both of these teams have exceptional forward corps. Both have talent on the blue line. The biggest discrepancy comes in the cage, where the less proven Vitek Vanecek has to match up against Igor Shesterkin.

Vanecek’s been solid in his first season as a Devil following a two-year run with the Caps, and he enters the post-season on a tear. Still, the goaltender across from him is undeniably one of the best in the game, even after taking a step back this season after his 2022 Vezina-winning dominance.

With all the star power cancelling out elsewhere in the lineup, all the pressure lands on Vanecek’s shoulders heading into this one. Should his squad coax their opponents into trading chances, into a run-and-gun back-and-forth — perhaps the best-case scenario for Jersey — it’ll fall on Vanecek to hold up his end of the bargain. Because we know what the Rangers will be getting on the other side of the ice.

Rangers X-Factor: Vincent Trocheck

There’s no shortage of star power crowding the spotlight on the Rangers’ bench — Panarin, Zibanejad, Kreider, Fox, Shesterkin, the new additions of Tarasenko and Kane, the Kid Line. Lost in that mix is veteran centreman Vincent Trocheck, who’s similarly playing out his first campaign in New York.

While all eyes were on the above names all year, Trocheck turned in a solid season himself, coming up with the second-best offensive campaign of his career, and his finest in half a decade. More importantly, he’s quietly been one of the Rangers’ most effective weapons, finishing the year as the club’s third-highest scorer at even-strength, and fourth-highest overall. Down the home stretch, he’s been even more vital — over the past two months, it’s Trocheck who’s paced the Rangers in even-strength production.

It’s not just the numbers, though. It’s his overall approach to the game — the former Panther and Cane has proven to play a style that meshes well with playoff hockey, a style grounded as much in hard-nosed battles as it is in playmaking. Given how the Rangers will likely need to play to win this series, that’s crucial. If they do manage to get by Jersey and earn a spot in Round 2, count on the second-line pivot playing a key role.

BROADCAST SCHEDULE
(all times Eastern)

Tuesday, April 18: at New Jersey, 7 p.m. (Sportsnet 360)
Thursday, April 20: at New Jersey, 7:30 p.m. (Sportsnet 360)
Saturday, April 22: at New York, 8 p.m. (Sportsnet ONE/City TV)
Monday, April 24: at New York, 7 p.m. (Sportsnet 360)
*Thursday, April 27: at New Jersey
*Saturday, April 29: at New York
*Monday, May 1: at New Jersey