THE DEVILS HAVE THE SERIES LEAD!!!!! Ondrej Palat opened up the scoring 39 seconds into the game, kickstarting a dominating victory from start to finish. The #NJDevils outshot the Rangers by 20 (!!) en route to their first playoff series lead in eleven years!! Erik Haula scored twice and Dawson Mercer notched a HUGE shorthanded goal – his first ever in the playoffs. Akira Schmid was dynamite, making some acrobatic and wild saves in a 23 save shutout!! The Rock was going nuts all night (deservedly so) and now the Devils have a chance to send the Rangers to the golf courses on Saturday night. When it mattered most, the Devils played arguably their best game in years. They were physical, stifling defensively, got great goaltending, and special teams was clicking. As I said a few weeks ago, the only thing that matters in the playoffs is which team could get the hottest. And it sure seems like the Devils are getting red hot…WOO!!! LGD!!! 😈