The Rangers completed their Stadium Series sweep, defeating the Islanders 2-1 on Wednesday. There were several reasons for the victory, which I will highlight below, but the strong play of Boyle-Moore-Carcillo was one of the major factors. Due to the ice conditions, the Rangers opted for a safe, conservative, counter-attack approach, which didn't make the game at times, beyond the atmosphere and environment, all that exciting, but it was effective. I thought the crowd was good not great, in terms of noise level etc., and that Sunday overall was better, but it still was a major success for the league and the NY area to see the interest and excitement level at Yankee Stadium.
Game Highlights:
The Islanders carried play much of the first two periods with Henrik Lundqvist strong between the pipes. The Rangers were outshot 10-6 in the opening period and 15-14 in a second period, though at one time, the shot disparity was 24-16 and New York benefitted from 17 blocked shots. Any semblance of a breakout or even clearing attempt was an adventure because the puck was bouncing, leading to some odd-man rushes and tenuous moments in their own zone. After nearly 38-and-a-half scoreless minutes, the Islanders broke through first. Brock Nelson, off two nifty, quick passes from Cal Clutterbuck and Matt Donovan, snapped home a short-side shot past Lundqvist to get the Islanders on the board with 1:27 remaining in the second period. When I first saw the goal and then the highlight, I was ready to criticize Kevin Klein for going to Clutterbuck, who had fallen down, even though a Ranger was there and he left Nelson open, but when I watched it again, Donovan had come towards Clutterbuck, so Klein had to mark him, leaving Nelson alone to score his 10th of the season.
Next was the first key of the game, the quick response. Carp put it well saying Benoit Pouliot scored an enormous goal off the heels of a lot of hard work by Derick Brassard. Brassard said on the goal that twice he got caroms of shots behind Evgeni Nabokov (shots by Ryan McDonagh and Mats Zuccarello) and knowing how far out Nabokov plays, he tried twice to bank the puck off Nabokov’s back. The second one hit Nabokov, flipped up in the air, hit Pouliot in the chin and fell onto his stick before he buried it 40 seconds after the Islanders went up 1-0. Brassard's ability and willingness to stay behind the net and create chances along with Pouliot going to a dirty area to score, enabled him to take advantage of the pass and the deflection off Nabokov and his own chin.
The next goal, given the conditions, likely was going to win and it's my second key of the game; fourth line play. Against New Jersey, with the Rangers reeling, that fourth line scored the first goal and was on ice for the second. We have talked forever about needing production from the bottom-six, and while the current second and third lines are interchangeable, making it a top-nine and bottom-three, that fourth line has come up big lately. We saw in the playoffs what the Carter-Bernier-Gionta line did in 2012 and what the Bruins fourth line did last year against New York. The way the Boyle-Moore-Carcillo line has played makes them a major weapon that didn't exist previously. Even if they don’t score, their forechecking, ability to tilt the ice and wear down opponents should pay major dividends in the second season.
Boyle, who had another strong game, even though the penalty against him was a ridiculous call, created the goal by being physical. He blew up Brian Strait at the Rangers blue line, his third crushing hit of the game, that sprung the Rangers on a 4-on-2, which resulted in a pass from Dominic Moore to Daniel Carcillo, who dished it back to Moore for a side angle shot on goal and Carcillo’s game-winning rebound tally 4:36 into the third. Carcillo was open because Michael Grabner failed to go hard from center ice to his own zone, enabling Carcillo to find room in front and bury the rebound. The fourth line worked hard and were rewarded for it. My only criticism of any of the fourth line is that Boyle failed to mark Kyle Okposo in front, instead going to John Tavares behind the net when another Ranger was there and he was lucky that Okposo shot it wide with eight seconds left.
A solid rebound game against the Islanders top line by Girardi and McDonagh making up for a poor performance a week prior. The Staal-Stralman duo were excellent, evidenced in Staal getting the Broadway Hat. If he is not all the way back from his second concussion, he is damn close. Keeping the balanced six defensemen together the remainder of the season will be critical to the team's success. I didn't think Moore-Klein were that good, definitely not as good as Sunday, but part of that may be comparing them to the top-two combinations, which may be unfair.
The Kreider-Stepan-Nash line has moments, especially Nash, who had a good jump last night. But Tavares destroyed Stepan on face-offs, as he Stepan won just eight of 26, plus his icing late was a really dumb play and almost cost the Rangers the game. While I thought Kreider was okay, he needs to be better than he has been lately. In his last eight games, the only points he has are the ones he scored last week against the Islanders. For the top line to go, while I appreciate the pressuring on the puck and how that creates chances, he needs to start scoring more consistently.
With five wins in their past seven games, the Rangers improved to 29-23-3, tied in points (61) with fifth-place Montreal in the Eastern Conference and more entrenched in second within the Metropolitan Division, three points ahead of Philly, who has a game in hand, but the closeness of spots two-seven mean that no faltering must be the message in the locker room. A win against the Isles tomorrow puts the Rangers 13 points ahead of them and makes them six games under .500 with 26 games to go, which could signal a sell-off before the Olympic break. Great pair of wins, now keep it going at home Friday.