In a high intensity, emotional game, the Islanders and their fans came out on top -- just as they did in October. A packed house with a good contingent of Islander fans could be heard loud and clear on tonight's broadcast every time the Isles dominated the game.
Although, it almost didn't happen that way. The Hockey Gods were on their side tonight and the law of averages was against the Rangers and their elongated winning streak. The posts on Jarod Halak's net made two saves to keep the Rangers off the score sheet and then the Isles found their way into Lundquist net. (Seriously. It looked like there was a piece of glass between the two posts keeping the puck out of the net)
Anders Lee opened the scoring at 8:49 of the second period. Casey Cizikas thought he had scored the first goal earlier, but it was waived off for contact with Lundqvist. It was the right call. But it did disappoint Zeeker. Eight minutes later, Kulemin made it 2-0 all by himself. You could hear the Isles fans get louder.
With Travis Hamonic in the box for cross checking, Frans Nielsen sealed the deal with a short handed goal that gave the Isles that dreaded three goal lead. But they didn't panic. We did. Yes, many of us Isles fans began to panic wondering if the Rangers would come back and score five in the third period. It could happen! It didn't.
As a matter of fact, Talbot took the net for the third period and not another goal was scored in the game as King Henrik sat on the bench. The first Isles shut out in decades at the Garden left many very, VERY cranky Ranger fans everywhere.
I'm sorry. Not my fault. But you had to realize, every streak comes to an end. Rangers get to try to get it back after the All-Star break. So -- we'll see. Until then, try to be civil.