New York. It was a classic Saturday night in New York – and at Madison Square Garden, 20,000 people thought they were going to celebrate a Rangers game in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
But ever more aggressive New Jersey ruined the party by defeating the Manhattan Stars – in sudden death.
“Fantastic, but we deserved to win this game,” Jesper Pratt, who was in charge of play when Dougie Hamilton decided, tells Sportbladet after the compensatory 2-1 victory.
After all, the New York Rangers held a 2-0 lead over archrivals across the Hudson after the opening eighth inning in Newark, and the “Blueshirts” fans gathered at Madison Square Garden on a warm spring evening seemed to think so. It was somewhat of a given that their champions would have a 3-0 advantage and strike in Monday’s meeting.
But the Devils managed to put together a more solid, qualifier-like effort in the third round, playing hard back and forth and making it difficult for the enemy to maneuver on the ice.
The ironically named Chris Cryder managed to give Rangers the lead early in the second half, after work by Mika Zibanejad, but Jack Hughes equalized on a power play in the same period, assisted by Jesper Pratt. And 11.36 into the ensuing extra time, veteran fullback Dougie Hamilton – also played by Swede Pratt – decided.
“Yes, for the first time in this play-off we’re playing a really good game all the way,” says Bratten when we meet him half an hour after the guests are ecstatic in the then-quiet arena.
– We played hard, didn’t give up too many scoring opportunities and our Special Teams really worked today. Box Play went up great against one of the best power plays in the league and at the same time we got into the zone right for the first time on our power play. So, unlike in Newark, I think we deserved to win this game.
What can you say about Hamilton’s preparations for the clinch?
It was a long game and it was running late, so when I got the puck I thought maybe people were starting to lose a little bit of control. So instead of just sending a puck on goal, I waited and saw that Dougie came a little late and he hit that shot and he could really pinch it when needed. It worked very well this time and it was very nice.
And now it’s up to Jesper and his friends to put everything back on Tuesday night – and settle the series.
– It was no accident that we won tonight, so we’ll look at what it’s like and why we’ve had so much success. We’ve got the fire inside us and we’re going to come back and win another game,” says the 24-year-old from Transsund.