henrik lundqvist marc staal andrew ladd

Credit: Jim McIsaac

The Rangers were hoping to extend their win streak to seven in Brooklyn, but allowed three straight to the Isles en route to the 4-2 loss. The Rangers and Isles traded chances all game, but it was the Isles who took advantage of bad Rangers defense for those three straight. Win streaks are meant to be snapped, but it stings letting the Isles do it.

Make no mistake, this was not a pretty game. Fun to watch, but not pretty. The Rangers were hemorrhaging chances to the Isles, as they couldn’t get past the tenacious forecheck. New coach Doug Weight had the Isles pressing hard, and forcing the defense to make passes, a horrible weakness for the Rangers. It worked, as it led directly to multiple chances, a goal, and sustained pressure. It was a good game plan.

On to the goals:

Rangers 1, Isles 0

Nick Holden jumped out of the box with four Isles huddled by the blue line. Brady Skjei picked up the puck and fed Mats Zuccarello at the blue line, who was so open because two Isles crashed into each other. With Holden on the odd-man rush, Zucc made the great pass and Holden got it over a sliding Greiss.

Rangers 1, Isles 1

The Rangers iced the puck, which gave Doug Weight a chance to get John Tavares out against a tired Rangers team. Adam Clendening eventually chased Tavares to the corner, and Oscar Lindberg chased behind the net. Brady Skjei went to block a chance by Josh Bailey, drawing him out of position and unable to defend the pass to Anders Lee, who buried it. Not a good defensive shift.

Isles 2, Rangers 1

Stephen Gionta forced Marc Staal into a bad turnover, and fed Andrew Ladd for the easy goal. The forwards were changing on this play.

Isles 3, Rangers 1

Tavares and Nikolay Kulemin outworked five Rangers while short handed to get this one. Terrible goal to give up.

Isles 3, Rangers 2

The Rangers got the shortie back, with Brady Skjei getting a shot through to Greiss, who had trouble with the rebound. Jimmy Vesey poked it home, with Johnny Boychuck pushing Rick Nash into Greiss. Goal was allowed.

Isles 4, Rangers 2

Ladd empty netter

Even Strength Corsi

This was a pretty fast paced game. There were a lot of good chances for both teams, which seems to be the way the Rangers have been playing all year. After a while the Isles starting sitting back and protecting their lead, hence the score effects later in the game. With all the gripes about the defense, at least the Rangers are fun to watch.

Losses happen. Like the lineup changes, no use –at least for me– getting worked up over it. On to the next.

Share: 

More About: