The New York Rangers won a game last night. Not only did they win, but they absolutely demolished a bad division rival with a third string goalie in net. The Rangers put up nine on the Islanders and third string goalie Marcus Hogberg, including four goal first period and third periods, holding onto a 4-0 lead after one and a 5-1 lead after two. This was a clinic by the Rangers, and one that should have happened across the entire season, not just one game.
Every Rangers forward except for Chris Kreider and Jonny Brodzinski recorded at least one point, and all but Matt Rempe recorded at least two points. The defense was overall fine, with Adam Fox recording three assists and K’Andre Miller one as the Blueshirts more or less coasted after the first period. They still surrendered 46 shots on goal, with Igor Shesterkin stopping 44 of them, but score effects matter when it’s a 9-2 rout.
Aside: That doesn’t mean Kreider or Brodzinski had bad games. It just means they didn’t have a point in the massacre.
The win gave the Rangers a 4-0 series sweep of the Islanders, outscoring them 23-5 in all four games. This is almost reminiscent of their playoff series in 1994, when the Rangers put up tennis scores against the Isles, sweeping them 6-0, 6-0, 5-1, and 5-2. It’s too bad the Rangers couldn’t do this throughout the season.
This thread from Denis Gorman of Newsday really illustrates what the Rangers could have been, versus what they are:
The Rangers went 12-4-1 to start the season and 8-3-3 in January. That’s 20-7-4 in their only two stretches that showed us what they could have been. That’s 17-28-3 for the rest of the season. October and January are what the Rangers should have been. November, December, February, March, and April are what they were. To say this is disappoint would be an understatement.
But the Rangers took all their season long frustrations out on the Islanders last night, absolutely steamrolling them in a manner a good team should beat a bad team. If you were watching, it was a fun game to watch, and is perhaps one of the only highlights of this disaster of a season.
