Recap: New Lines Shine in 5-2 Win Against The Isles

A beautiful Sunday Afternoon for hockey in Manhattan let alone for a match up between two stories rivals. In their first meeting of the season, the Rangers took care of business in an exciting, albeit, defensively sloppy Sunday showcase. Igor Shesterkin continued his brilliance in net as the Rangers picked up goals on the power play, penalty kill, at 5-v-5 and on an empty net.

1st Period:

After three minutes of play mostly spent in the Rangers zone to start, Jacob Trouba was called for the first penalty of the outing as he held onto the stick of Anders Lee. At this point, the Rangers were already being out-shot 4-0 and were now tasked with killing a penalty which was less than ideal. Of course, the Rangers often thrive when it comes to being down a man. 

A great forecheck by Chris Kreider forced a turnover at the blueline which turned into a beautiful passing sequence between him and Mika Zibanejad. In typical Kreider and Zibanejad fashion, the two passed the puck back and forth what looked to be a little too much before quickly becoming a highlight reel goal as Kreider was able to tap it home right at the doorstep. 

Chris Kreider’s 11th shorthanded goal becomes the most in the league since the 2020-21 season. 

The Rangers nearly had a second shorthanded goal on the following shift as Reilly Smith was robbed of a rebound attempt off the initial shot from Ryan Lindgren. Ilya Sorokin came up with an outstanding save to keep it a 1-0 score as the Islanders had nothing to show for on their first power play attempt of the day. 

Nearing the midway mark of the first, Kaapo Kakko dumped the puck in and the Islanders kind of sold the icing call. The officials quickly realized they were wrong and held the faceoff at center ice which led to Filip Chytil going on an insane rush with the puck that went off the post and eventually the helmet of Sorokin before staying out of the net altogether. 

The offense continued as Alexis Lafrenière and Artemiy Panarin found themselves on a 2-on-1 but the pass was just ahead of Panarin to complete the scoring chance. The Islanders then went the other way with it for an odd-man rush of their own that required a big save from Igor Shesterkin on Noah Dobson who was in all alone up close. 

Arguably the best shift of the period came from the Rangers fourth line with Adam Fox and Ryan Lindgren on the back end. After some good puck movement initiated by Fox, Lindgren had a Grade-A chance to score with a one timer. Had he been able to elevate the puck at all, it would have found nothing but net as Sorokin lost his footing and was stuck low on the opposite side of the crease. Fox then set up Sam Carrick for as good a chance as you could get after the whistle but couldn’t pull a move off from up close.  

The Rangers would take a 1-0 lead into the first intermission but this game really could have been 5-0 in their favor. So many chances that either hit the post, didn’t get enough air or were victim of great goaltending from Ilya Sorokin. Generally speaking, it was an exciting period to watch from a fan perspective but the Rangers continued to look sloppy defensively, were significantly out-shot in the early parts of the period and weren’t noticeable at 5-v-5. 

Shots were 11-11 after twenty as the Rangers were behind in the high danger count 4-3 as well as expected goals for 1.15-0.79. They did however, have the edge in hits 7-5 and face-off percentage at 57%. 

2nd Period:

It only took 81 seconds for the Rangers to extend their lead in the second period. A fantastic effort with the stick from Reilly Smith took the puck away from Sam Bolduc right at Sorokin’s doorstep. After a slick little move, Smith was able to dish the puck back to Vincent Trocheck who put it home for his third of the season, more notably his 200th of his career. 

Despite the Rangers’ offense continuing roll, their defense was still a mess which almost cost them as K’Andre Miller turned the puck over to give Bo Horvat a breakaway. Shesterkin made the save and the play went the other way but it was only a matter of time before these shortcomings took a toll. Not long after that sequence, Shesterkin lost the rebound of a shot from Pierre Engvall that Casey Cizikas was able to bang home for his first of the season. 2-1 game. 

About a minute and a half later, Kreider was called for hooking as he took down Oliver Wahlstrom off a face-off to give the Islanders their second power play of the night. The Rangers were 37 seconds away from killing it off however, Fox sent the puck sailing right over the glass which turned things into a 5-on-3 advantage for the Isles. A big save from Shesterkin helped fight off the initial penalty but just as Kreider returned to the ice, Anders Lee took down Jacob Trouba to change the play to a minute or so of 4-on-4. 

The Rangers had enough time to enter the zone by the time it turned into a power play for them yet as Trocheck was hooked down by Ryan Pulock, it would turn into a 14 second 5-on-3 advantage. The Rangers pushed to get one within those 14 seconds but Sorokin ate the lone shot from Fox which brought play back to a normal 5-on-4 power play. With a little more time to patiently set up, a shot from Panarin at the point went through the legs of Trocheck who was acting as the screen in front to find the back of the net. 3-1 Rangers. 

With roughly five and a half to go in the second, Lafrenière had yet another scoring chance you dream of but was turned away by Sorokin who was far and away the sole reason this game was close to begin with. From that point on, the Rangers spent more time than not in their own end of the ice. With less than ten seconds to go, Kyle Palmieri completely walked a sprawled out Trouba and was able to send it over to Brock Nelson who was right at the far post to bring the Islanders within one. There could have been a penalty on the play as Chytil went down moments before but alas, the score was 3-2 heading into the second intermission. 

Shots through forty were tied at 27 apiece with special teams being the difference maker. The Islanders were 0-for-3 on the power play while the Rangers were 1-for-2 while picking up a shorthanded goal in the process. Islanders continued to lead in high danger and expect goals as the Rangers still weren’t anywhere near their best defensively.

3rd Period:

The Rangers caught a break to start the second as Simon Holmstrom was called for holding off a face-off just under two minutes into the third. The Rangers best chance with the advantage came from power play two as Kakko had a wide open net to tap one home but lost his footing and broke his stick in the process. It can never be easy… Meanwhile as the team’s returned to even strength, the Islanders had another odd-man rush that would have tied the game had it not been for the strong goaltending of Shesterkin. 

Just over five minutes in, the Rangers managed to regain the two goal lead in such a peculiar fashion. Reilly Smith might have gotten a piece of it, it might have bounced off Adam Edström. Sam Carrick might have had the last touch. Braden Schneider had the initial credit for the goal on the NHL app. It’ll probably change several times by the time I post this and could even change after but in the moment, it was declared Adam Edström’s goal, his first of the season. 

Of course that wouldn’t build much momentum as Adam Fox picked up his second delay of game penalty after shooting yet another puck over the glass. An uncharacteristic showing from the team’s top defender, at least in his own end of the ice. Nevertheless, the Rangers were again successful on the penalty kill carrying a two goal lead halfway through the third. 

Six minutes of low event hockey set the stage for Patrick Roy to make the infamous Patrick Roy decision to pull the goalie with four minutes still to go. The Garden Faithful began to chant “Igor” in hopes that the netminder would get the chances to score his long anticipated first goal but Panarin shut them up pretty quickly with a long range empty netter just about twenty seconds later. 

That would do it for this one save for a garbage time slashing penalty against Chytil. The Rangers picked up a 5-2 win to extend their record to 8-2-1. They did a much better job of generating offense, registering 40 shots on goal but at the same time, they allowed the Islanders to keep Igor busy with 37 of their own. Far from perfect but the new lines seemed to work, especially if the objective was to Zibanejad, who finished the day with three assists, going again.

The Rangers have plenty of time to clean up their game before they drop the puck again as they'll host the Buffalo Sabres Thursday Night.