Rangers Recap: Rangers Flatten Isles, 7-2, "Gilroy Was Here"
The Matt Gilroy Ranger fans have been waiting a long time for showed up tonight, scoring two goals and helping the Rangers crush the Islanders, 7-2 at Madison Square Garden tonight, ending the Islanders modest three game winning streak.
I guess you can call this a "come from behind win", since the Islanders did lead 2-1 at this point, but after Marian Gaborik tied the game at two late in the first period, this one was all Blueshirts. I'm not sure how many late period goals the Rangers have scored this year, without looking I would guess around a half dozen, and to their credit it seems like they have been able to feed off of every one of them.
After Gabby tied it, Gilroy put the Rangers ahead for good, and the rout was on. Brian Boyle made it 4-2 before the end of the second, which I guess would count as a late goal as well, and then Brandon Dubinsky, Ruslan Fedetenko, and Derek Stepan all scored in the third period to finish off the Isles.
Just to run down some of the achievements tonight:
- The first two goals of the season for Matt Gilroy.
- Two power play goals.
- Mats Zuccarello gets his first NHL point with an assist on Stepan's goal.
- The Rangers go over .500 at home, their record at MSG now stands at 9-8-2.
- Rangers pound out 50 shots on goal for what seems like the first time in 100 years.
- Another "big win" in what is starting to become a season full of them. The fun season continues.
- Not enough great things can be said about beating the Islanders, especially when they were probably just starting to feel good about themselves.
