Alexandar Georgiev set to start against the Islanders as coach hopes Rangers feel the pain of recent failure
Rangers vs Islanders: The Blueshirts are right back at it and it’s a huge task. They have to take on the first place Islanders on the road twice. A team that has only lost one single game at home all season at 17-1-2. It won’t be easy and the Rangers are going to have bring their “A” game for a full 60 minutes if they want to win this one.
Rangers: 18-16-5 (41 pts)
Islanders: 26-10-4 (56 pts)
(7:00 p.m. ET – TV: MSG 2, Radio: ESPN 1050 AM)
Rangers need to feel that pain of failure
Today the Rangers head coach wanted to stress the lessons learned from yesterday’s loss to the Penguins. His message to his charges couldn’t have been clearer. “Sometimes the greatest teacher is failure, and sometimes it’s the only teacher,” David Quinn explained. “You can talk about. They can do it from time to time – but sometimes you’ve got to feel pain to your core and you’ve got to really suffer before you learn a valuable lesson.”
What the coach relayed almost bordered as a plea to not repeat the mistakes from their latest loss. Mistakes of a team that refuses to take what the opposition is giving them sometimes. Instead, they continually try to force a play that simply isn’t there. They’re also a team that passes up a good shot in hopes of hitting a teammate for a better one. These are the kind of mistakes the Islanders feed on.
Quinn noted that because he has so many skilled players scoring has come too easy for them recently. When faced with what the Penguins did last night defensively; they just refused to keep it simple. However the head coach left things on a positive note. “The good news for us is we’ve had bouncebacks in games like this when our backs are against the wall,” he said. “We’ve usually played our best hockey in these situations.”
Alexandar Georgiev finally back in net
It certainly isn’t the ideal spot to bring back a struggling goalie but is there ever really one? Sometimes just diving into the deep end of the pool is the way to go. One thing is for certain; Georgiev has a great track record against the Islanders. In 8 appearances he’s 6-2-0 with an excellent 1.80 GAA to go with a .941 SV% and two shutouts. He has allowed two or less in six of those games as well.
Simply put, Georgiev loves to play against the Islanders. Remember that he picked up the Rangers first win of the season in the team’s second game of the year by shutting out the Islanders. The 25 year-old goalie has earned six wins in his seven career starts against the Isles; the most wins for him against any NHL opponent.
Recent rumors also have teams interested in Georgiev. Could this start right before Monday’s deadline also be a showcasing? We will see in a few days if that was the case.
Rangers Pre Game Notes
- All-Time vs Islanders: 131-118-19-9 (74-49-11-6 at home; 57-69-8-3 on the road)
- The Blueshirts are one of two NHL teams that have five players who have registered 30 or more points this season (along with Winnipeg).
- The Rangers have outscored their opponent on special teams in 16 games in 2020-21 and have posted an 11-3-2 record in those 16 games.
UPCOMING MILESTONES
- New York Rangers – 9 goals away from 20,000 in franchise history
- Kaapo Kakko – 2 games away from 100 in his NHL career/with the Rangers
- Artemi Panarin – 3 games away from 100 with the Rangers; 5 assists away from 300 in his NHL career
Notes courtesy NYR
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