rangers islanders

For the second time this week, the Rangers beat the Islanders. This time it was in Nassau. This time it was a last minute goal that sent the good guys home with a win. This time wasn’t a drubbing, but it was a hard fought win. And of course it was Chris Kreider who scored a last minute goal to send the Blueshirts home victorious.

Alex Georgiev held the Rangers in it with a stellar first period. The game was filled with penalties, but it was arguably the best game of the year for the Blueshirts. That makes it six of their last seven at Nassau Coliseum for the Rangers – always a fun stat to bring up.

Isles 1, Rangers 0

Oof, not a first minute goal but a last minute goal. Jacob Trouba with the rough turnover, and then no one wants to cover either guy in front. Nothing Georgiev could do on this one. But he did enough in the first to ensure a Rangers win.

Rangers 1, Isles 1

Usually these kinds of reviews go against the Rangers, but this is a good goal for Mika Zibanejad. Just trickled through, and Ryan Pulock made a valiant effort on the first save, but it goes off Semyon Varlamov and crosses the line.

Rangers 2, Isles 1

Tony DeAngelo out of the box with the snipe. No real breakdown on the Isles’ part here. Bouncing puck at the blue line leads to the turnover and the rush.

Isles 2, Rangers 2

Anthony Beauvillier gained speed through the neutral zone, something we’ve spoken about a lot here, and that’s what caused this goal. There isn’t really a systemic issue here, since Beauvillier dumped the puck in well before the blue line, and I didn’t really see a gap control issue since Brady Skjei was within sticks length. Beauvillier is just really fast and someone like him skating forward will blow by anyone skating backwards. Tap your stick and move on.

Rangers 3, Isles 2

It’s a powerplay goal for Chris Kreider to win it. This was good puck movement from Artemi Panarin to Tony DeAngelo, back to Panarin, then to Mika Zibanejad in the slot for the chance. The rebound went right to the league’s best net front presence and he doesn’t miss from there.

Shot Heatmap

The Isles really owned that first period, getting 69% of the shot attempts and 81.5% of the xG. But it was the Georgiev show to keep them in it. After that the Rangers woke up and really owned the rest of the game. It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish. This heatmap is very skewed to the first period, when the Isles were getting a lot of high danger shots.

Skater Results

Not as much good/fun as we’ve seen in the past. A lot of what you see here is skewed from the first period, but the Rangers continue to excel in being more fun than bad. That’s a win when you consider the beginning of the season.

This might have been the best game of the year for the Rangers, who get two days off before getting the Blue Jackets at home. They get one more game against the Isles at MSG two days later, then it’s ten days off for the bye week and the All Star Game.

Share: 

More About: