The New York Rangers continued their strong play with their
third consecutive game in a 4-2 fashion over the New York Islanders Thursday night. The win pulled the Rangers within two points
of the first place Flyers as the two teams will battle it out tomorrow
night. Michael Del Zotto continued his
excellent play of late with a goal and a plus three to push him to a tremendous
plus-20 this year.
Martin Biron continued his excellent play this season making
24 saves to improve to 7-1 on the season.
The play of Biron is a key factor for the Rangers success in both the
short and long term outlook for the season.
His play to win the games he starts and give more rest to Henrik
Lundqvist so he is fresh down the stretch in the playoffs makes him such an
asset for New York.
The New York Rangers started a little slow and had too many
defensive zone turnovers early in the first period, but Martin Biron bailed
them out, most notably on a beautiful save against Michael Grabner mid-way
through the period. Tavares found an
open Grabner who looked like a lock to score on the half open net, but Biron
slid across and robbed him with the pad before making a rebound save as well. Biron had some help from Tim Erixon when he pinned
his body against the post and kept the puck out of the net.
Late in the first period the Rangers got a much needed goal
from Brandon Dubinsky. The goal was a
pure example of how Dubinsky plays when he is at his best. Taking the puck from behind his own net
Dubinsky sped up the right wing boards around multiple Islanders defenders and
had no hesitation firing the shot from the faceoff circle far side to beat
Nabokov. The Rangers need more of that
from Dubinsky in the long run if they are going to continue to get the results
they have gotten thus far.
After McDonagh took a penalty late in the first period, P.A.
Parenteau tied the game for the Islanders just 18 seconds into the second. Parenteau converted a Streit rebound.
The Rangers regained control of the game after Artem
Anisimov won an offensive zone faceoff and fed Marian Gaborik for his 20th goal
of the season. The goal tied Gaborik for
the NHL lead in goal with Steven Stamkos and Jonathan Toews before Phil Kessel
also joined the 20 goal club.
New York gained a two goal lead when Michael Del Zotto
continued his excellent play of late ripping a slapshot passed Nabokov at 15:25
of the period. The shot from the faceoff
circle on a rolling puck was impressive in itself, but when you look at the
anticipation and reading of the play by Del Zotto to be in the spot in the
first place it becomes even more impressive.
Stu Bickel gave the Islanders some life towards the middle
of the third period when during a scrum after the whistle he was assessed an
extra two minutes for his altercation with Tim Wallace. On the ensuing power play Matt Moulson made
the Rangers pay when he converted a Mark Streit rebound. Bickel has shown a willingness to get
involved physically in his first two games with the Rangers, but he has to be
smarter about when to do so.
John Mitchell added the empty-netter
with 1:33 remaining to cap the 4-2 win.
- Del Zotto has been amongst the Rangers best players the past few weeks and has stepped up more and more with each defender that goes down.
- Gaborik is a man possessed this year and doing everything he wasn’t last year getting so many goals around the front of the net.
- Dubinsky is getting back to playing his type of game.
- Hagelin continues to be noticeable each game.
- Bickel will be a fan favorite quickly with his willingness to stand up for teammates and drop the gloves.
