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For the first time in the series, Akira Schmid looked human when he surrendered five goals in a 5-2 Game 6 loss against the New York Rangers. However, the New Jersey Devils goaltender was tremendous when his team needed him the most in Game 7 as the Devils defeated the Rangers, 4-0.

Schmid stopped all 31 shots that he faced and recorded just his second career shutout. When the dust settled in the series, Schmid recorded an impressive 1.72 goals-against-average after replacing Vitek Vanecek in Game 3.

With Monday’s victory, the Devils won their first playoff series since defeating — you guessed it — the Rangers in Game 7 of the 2012 Eastern Conference Final. It also marked New Jersey’s sixth win in their last eight Game 7s, including winning four of their last five.

Following their triumph over the Rangers, the Devils will face their Metropolitan Division rivals in the Carolina Hurricanes.

As the Islanders skated off the UBS Arena ice on Friday, handshake lines finished and last vestiges of the crowd clearing out, the reality in front of them was clear as day.

They had lost a winnable Game 6, 2-1 to the Hurricanes on home ice with Paul Stastny ending their season in overtime. 

They had lost a winnable series, blowing leads in both Game 2 and Game 6 that will haunt them for the entire offseason. 

And they might have lost their best chance of an extended playoff run with this core of players.

“One-goal leads in the playoffs are just not safe,” Mathew Barzal said in a dead-quiet locker room, repeating a mantra the Islanders learned in the first round to their chagrin.

The deeper and tougher Knicks had little trouble overpowering and vanquishing the Cavaliers in the end, even with negligible contributions  for most of the first round from their lone All-Star.

One game after Julius Randle had been benched for the entire fourth quarter of Sunday’s win at Madison Square Garden, he re-injured his left ankle late in the second quarter and didn’t play in the second half.

And Tom Thibodeau’s gritty squad absorbed every punch once more and prevailed yet again.

Jalen Brunson finished with a team-high 23 points and Obi Toppin filled in ably for Randle in the second half as the Knicks dispatched the Cavs in five games, finishing them off without their leading scorer for the final two quarters of a series-sealing 106-95 victory Wednesday night at a silenced Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.

Thibodeau and the Knicks deservedly will make the franchise’s first trip to the second round of the playoffs since 2013 and only their second since 2000. 

The Green Bay Packers and New York Jets have agreed to a trade sending longtime Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers to the Big Apple.

The long-awaited trade will see the four-time NFL Most Valuable Player sent to the Jets along with the Packers’ 15th overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft, according to reports from ESPN and NFL Network.

The Packers will receive the Jets’ 13th overall pick in this month’s draft, as well as one of the Jets’ second-round picks and their 2024 first-round draft pick if Rodgers plays at least 65% of the Jets’ offensive plays this season.

Rodgers, 39, has spent his entire 18-season NFL career with the Packers, where he led the team to a 31-25 victory in Super Bowl XLV in 2011.