Recap: Rangers' Unlikely Heroes Shine in 5-1 Rout of Islanders Despite Injuries to Fox, K'Andre Miller

An important game for both sides of this rivalry as the Rangers paid a trip to Long Island to take on the New York Islanders. There were some uncertainties regarding the lineup leading up to game time as Chris Kreider was expected to be a game time decision. As it turned out, Kreider would not take line ups and Brennan Othmann would make his season debut in place of Arthur Kaliyev. This led to some questionable line construction from Peter Laviolette that left many fans, myself included a bit perplexed but boy, did it work out for him as the fourth line of Othmann-Brodzinski-Rempe contributed heavily to the Rangers success tonight.

Now before puck drop, the MSG Broadcast as well as UBS Arena paid a touching tribute to Al Trautwig who passed away earlier this week. In his early days, Trautwig was actually a stick boy for the Islanders. Lots of touching words on the broadcast from Sam, Joe, Valliquete, Giannone and Lundqvist before the game as well.

1st Period: 

Well, the Rangers didn’t give up a goal in the first two minutes so that’s good! Off to at least a much better pace than they were in their last two games, the Rangers got a strong shift out of their fourth line with Brennan Othmann to get things started. They were still being outshot and outworked in the neutral zone but progress is progress. Just over five minutes in, the Islanders had a Grade-A scoring chance as Adam Boqvist beat Ryan Lindgren in a footrace for the puck and had a partial breakaway on Igor Shesterkin who was able to come up with the save. 

About a minute later, the Rangers picked up the first goal of the night. A great forecheck from Jimmy Vesey and Sam Carrick allowed Reilly Smith to drop a pass back to Urho Vaakanainen at the point. Urho did a great job of waiting for some traffic to build in front before letting a shot go that found the back of the net to make it a 1-0 game early. Fun fact, the Rangers were being out-shot 6-0 at the time of this goal. 

It would be a quick answer from the Islanders as they cycled the puck down low before passing it back to the point. It would be Alexander Romanov letting the shot go through traffic to sneak through Shesterkin, tying the game up 1-1. 

With close to seven minutes, the Rangers newly constructed 4th line had another productive shift which ended with Jonny Brodzinski shooting the puck through an incredibly effective screen from Matt Rempe to make it a 2-1 game. Ilya Sorokin didn’t stand much of a chance of stopping that one with a nearly seven foot tall obstacle parked right in front of him. For as unenthusiastic as many fans were about this fourth line, myself included, they were actually off to a rather strong start. 

Things slowed down as the opening period wound down but in that final minute, the 4th line struck again. Another great shift with Matt Rempe and Brennan Othmann hard on the forecheck allowed for Brodzinski to let another shot go from further out in the zone. This time, it was Othmann who was tied up with Scott Perunivich that took away the vision of Sorokin, allowing for Brodzinski to pick up his second of the night. 3-1 Rangers. 

They would only have five shots on goal in the opening twenty but the Rangers took a 3-1 lead into the first intermission which made for a much better showing than anything we saw from this group over the weekend. I never thought I’d be asking for guys like Panarin, Trocheck and Zibanejad to follow in the footsteps of Matt Rempe and Jonny Brodzinski but as it turns out, creating traffic and shooting the puck is a formula for success!

2nd Period:

The second period started with Brock Nelson colliding with Sheserkin after trying to get the puck to the net, thankfully Igor was fine on the play. Unfortunately, it continued to be all Islanders to start the period as Shesterkin needed to be, and was sharp through a flurry of shots in the first few minutes. After the Rangers first chance of the period that resulted in Panarin hitting the post, the Islanders were called for the first penalty of the night. Adam Pelech would be the culprit for holding against Panarin. 

The top power play unit had some moments where they were moving the puck well but it was the Islanders penalty killers who saw the bulk of the chances throughout our first look at special teams in this outing. The Rangers had just one shot on goal to show for as the team returned to even strength nearing the midway mark of the period. 

Regarding how it looked on the scoreboard, the Rangers were doing just fine up 3-1 but halfway through the game they still had just eight shots on goal. Mika Zibanejad had a couple of rough shifts as he intercepted a pass that should have sent him on a clear breakaway but resulted in Tony DeAngelo of all people catching up to him. Meanwhile, K’Andre Miller appeared to be absent from the Rangers bench as he would end up not returning for the remainder of the night.

With eight and a half to go, the Rangers went back to work on the forecheck with Zibanejad actually delivering a hit onto the Isles defender. He would end up with the puck again down low before finding a wide open J.T. Miller for a quick shot destined for the back of the net, 4-1 Rangers. That’s five goals in eight games since J.T. Miller’s return to New York. 

The inconsistencies regarding Zibanejad’s tenacity levels was even noted by Sam Rosen on the broadcast as he seemed truly flabbergasted that after getting kicked out of a face-off, Zibanejad started hitting, forechecking with more purpose which directly resulted in Miller’s goal.

With three and a half to go in the second, Jonny Brodzinski came real close to the hat-trick but it was Matt Rempe getting a stick on it on the screen to redirect the shot past Sorokin, extending the Rangers lead to 5-1. What a pleasant surprise this fourth line turned out to be as Othmann, Brodzinski and Rempe generated three goals through two periods of play and were consistently providing some productive offense. 

Shots after two were now 23-11 in favor of the Islanders. The Rangers were essentially scoring at an every-other shot pace with some unlikely heroes leading the charge.

3rd Period:

The Islanders would start the third with a netminder change as Jakub Skarek would take over for Ilya Sorokin in just his second NHL game. It was a cautious start initially but things took a turn for the worst just over three minutes in as Adam Fox went straight to the Rangers locker room, nursing his arm/shoulder after taking the Rangers first penalty of the night.

This comes as a massive blow for the Rangers who were already without one of their top defensemen in this game. The Fox critics, along with this team in general, are in for a rude awakening if Fox has to miss an extended amount of time. Midway through the period, it was announced that he would not return tonight either.

Brennan Othmann would serve the penalty for Fox and to make matters worse, Braden Schneider blocked a shot on the penalty kill with his knee that left him in a great deal of discomfort, barely able to put any pressure on his left leg. After a long battle to clear the zone, the Rangers were able to successfully kill the penalty and Schneider was able to get to the bench.

Thankfully, it would appear that Schneider would be alright which is good because we almost had to test out Mika Zibanejad the defenseman.

Artemi Panarin came close to making it a 6-1 game on a quick shot following a pretty passing play involving Trocheck and Lafrenière but Skarek came up with a massive save. However, it wasn't long before Skarek would be on the bench. In true Patrick Roy fashion, the Isles head coach opted to pull the goalie for the extra attacker with eight and a half minutes to go in a 5-1 hockey game.

That would only last until the next whistle which came soon after. Play stoppages became quite frequent in the back half of the third as the Rangers were looking to just get out of this one with their lead in tact and the Islanders didn't appear to have much going for them either. The two teams will get the chance at a rematch at the Garden next week but for tonight, the Rangers held onto their 5-1 win.

Still not the greatest showing from the Rangers but their depth players really stepped up and played the kind of game they need from their entire roster. A three point night from both Urho Vaakanainen and Jonny Brodzinski with some key contributions from Matt Rempe as well as Brennan Othmann in his season debut. The Rangers are back at it on home ice Friday Night as they'll host the Toronto Maple Leafs. Hopefully, Fox and Miller aren't looking at anything too serious.