Devils rookie Schmid shows veteran poise, outduels Rangers' Sheshterkin

The road team had won each of the first four games in this Metropolitan Division playoff series, but the New Jersey Devils ended that trend Thursday in the Garden State with a dominant Game 5 win over the New York Rangers to take a 3-2 series lead.

After losing the first two games by a combined score of 10-2, coach Lindy Ruff turned to Akira Schmid and the team hasn’t looked back since.

Schmid has now stopped 80 of 82 Ranger shots since he was named starter ahead of Game 3 when the Devils were down 2-0 in the series.

The rookie netminder looked like a poised veteran as he stopped all 23 shots he faced, picking up his first NHL post-season shutout and frequently flashing the leather throughout the 4-0 clean sheet on Thursday.

The Rangers had several solid chances in the first two periods but any time a momentum swing looked possible, Schmid shut the door. His best save early on was when he robbed Artemi Panarin in tight. Later in the game, he sprawled out to stop Kaapo Kakko.

Ondrej Palat had put the Devils ahead just 39 seconds into the game by quickly jumping on a rebound and getting a lucky bounce when the puck deflected off Adam Fox and past Igor Shesterkin.

It was Palat’s 50th career post-season tally and the second consecutive game he found the back of the net. Palat has more playoff goals than any player not named Nikita Kucherov since the 2012-13 campaign.

Erik Haula and Dawson Mercer were the other main drivers of offence on Thursday.

The Devils, as they’ve done throughout this series, were up in Shesterkin’s grill any time the puck was near the Rangers net. Haula put his team up 2-0 while screening Shesterkin, tipping in a Mercer shot during a power play.

The real backbreaker for New York came on a shorthanded two-on-one in the second period when Mercer wired home his first career playoff goal after a lovely feed from Haula, which made up for Mercer clanging one off the post earlier in the game.

The Rangers needed to generate momentum, but couldn’t get Schmid off his game. It certainly wasn’t for lack of trying, though, as Mika Zibanejad took a goaltender interference call 36 seconds into the third period when he bowled over the 22-year-old, who’s now 3-0 this post-season.

Haula and Mercer were named the second and third stars of the game, respectively, but Schmid was a no-brainer for top-star honours by becoming the first Devils rookie to record a playoff shutout since Martin Brodeur back in 1994.

Shesterkin keeps impressive streak alive despite loss

Rangers faithful will undoubtedly be disappointed in that Game 5 showing, however you won’t find many blaming their goalie for the loss.

Haula’s second and New Jersey’s fourth of the night was an empty netter with more than five minutes remaining, so Shesterkin’s streak of allowing three or fewer goals in a playoff start is extended to a whopping 21 games.

The final score would’ve been far uglier were it not for Shesterkin’s 39-save effort.

The netminder even tried to fire up his teammates after robbing Timo Meier with a glove save minutes after the Rangers went down by three, skating past his bench while aggressively sharing some, well, let’s call them words of encouragement.

New York struggled to muster many quality scoring chances in the final 20 minutes. The Devils implemented a 1-2-2 defensive strategy that made it tough for the Rangers to enter the offensive zone and New Jersey’s team defence stepped up with 24 blocked shots in the game.

Rangers fans are now hoping this year’s edition of the team can channel the 1993-94 Blue Shirts that defeated the Devils in seven games after falling behind 3-2 when Mark Messier famously guaranteed a Game 6 victory.

Will any Rangers player be so bold as to guarantee a win as the series shifts back to Madison Square Garden?

Ruff’s Devils can finish things off on Saturday when these teams get after it in Game 6.