Schmid, Devils blank Rangers in Game 7 to win Eastern 1st-Round series

NEWARK, N.J. -- Akira Schmid made 31 saves for the New Jersey Devils, who won a Stanley Cup Playoff series for the first time in more than a decade with a 4-0 victory against the New York Rangers in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference First Round at Prudential Center on Monday.

It was Schmid's second shutout in three games; he made 23 saves in a 4-0 win in Game 5 on Thursday.
"The team played great in front of me, blocking shots, not letting them into the zone," Schmid said. "It was a great team effort. … Obviously, you want to close it out earlier (in Game 6), but sometimes you don't get to choose some things, so we tried to refocus and get the win here, and we did."

Schmid made 25 saves in the final two periods.
"He played a heck of a game. I mean, he had a heck of a series," New Jersey coach Lindy Ruff said. "I mean, you envision things, but you don't really envision what he did. This was a tough series. It was like I said this morning, it was two good teams going at it, and goaltending on both sides turned out to be a big factor."
Michael McLeod, Tomas Tatar, Erik Haula and Jesper Bratt scored for the Devils, who are the No. 2 seed from the Metropolitan Division and advanced for the first time since 2012. Ondrej Palat and John Marino each had two assists.
New Jersey will play the Carolina Hurricanes, the No. 1 seed from the Metropolitan, in the second round.
"It's a huge series, a rival team," McLeod said. "It just shows us how good a team we actually are and how prepared we were to come in here. And we got better every game, I think, and especially the first two (losses), I think really cleaned up our penalty kill and stuff, so it's exciting going forward."
RELATED: [Complete Devils vs. Rangers series coverage]
Igor Shesterkin made 20 saves for the Rangers, who were the No. 3 seed from the Metropolitan.
"Every year you have that same feeling, you don't know how many kicks at the can you're going to get," New York captain Jacob Trouba said. "Tomorrow is never given, especially in this league. It definitely stinks. It feels like we let an opportunity slip away.
"That's hockey. Give them credit. It's not just this room failing, I think that team played well. They had an incredible regular season. They're a good hockey team. I give them a lot of credit as well."
The Rangers had a 2-0 lead in the series, winning Games 1 and 2 in New Jersey by identical 5-1 scores.
"Maybe we took our foot off the gas when we got a 2-0 lead and gave them a little momentum," New York defenseman Adam Fox said. "But they're a fast team. They come in waves. Got to give some credit to them. It obviously feels like a missed opportunity for us.
"When we played well, you saw the score was indicative of it, but it seemed like when we couldn't score we got a little stagnated and weren't able to get one by."

McLeod gave the Devils a 1-0 lead at 9:53 of the second period with a short-handed goal, scoring on a 2-on-1 after Palat forced a turnover by Fox and won a battle for the puck with Chris Kreider. McLeod finished with a backhand around Shesterkin's right pad.
"If you watch the whole shift back, how many battles [Palat] actually wins on that shift and the effort to get the puck back each time he lost it, and then to make a little play like that (to McLeod)," Haula said. "And then what a finish by [McLeod]."
Tatar extended the lead to 2-0 at 15:39 of the second period, scoring from in front off a pass from Marino.
Haula made it 3-0 with 5:33 remaining in the third period on a one-timer off a pass from Jack Hughes.
"It was just a great series, two great teams going at it, and give them credit," Haula said. "Like I said, they're well coached, a lot of star power, and we could easily be intimidated, but we learned a lot. We kept our cool and we're happy to be here."

The Rangers went 0-for-4 on the power play. They were 1-for-18 with the man-advantage in Games 3-7 after going 4-for-10 in Games 1 and 2.
"It would have been great to get one of those goals ... but I can't pin it on the power play when we don't score any goals," New York coach Gerard Gallant said. "They had their looks, they had their chances, but when you don't score any goals in the game, you have no chance to win, obviously."
Bratt scored an empty-net goal with 3:19 left for the 4-0 final.
"Those games, you want to play and to beat them in a Game 7 at home, I think those are memories that are going to stick forever," New Jersey captain Nico Hischier said. "But. ... It's the first round. We want more. We believe in each other. We have to enjoy tonight and tomorrow get back to work and go to Carolina, and back to business there."
NOTES: New Jersey is 8-7 in Game 7; New York is 11-7. Ruff won his first Game 7 as an NHL head coach. He was 0-4. Gallant is 2-2. Prior to Monday, Palat was the only player on the Devils roster with a goal in a Game 7. … Rangers forwards Barclay Goodrow and Vladimir Tarasenko each lost for the first time in a Game 7 (5-1). … New Jersey went 2-1-1 against the Hurricanes during the regular season. … Devils forwards Miles Wood and Yegor Sharangovich played after not having played since Game 2. They replaced Jesper Boqvist and Curtis Lazar. … New Jersey forward Timo Meier left at 5:39 of the third period after a hit from Trouba and did not return. Ruff did not have an update postgame.