Rangers blank Islanders 4-0 for second straight shutout victory
Monday at Madison Square Garden, it was different goalie, same result for the New York Rangers. They shut out the New York Islanders 4-0 behind the work of Igor Shesterkin one night after blanking the Nashville Predators 4-0 with Jonathan Quick in net.
Shesterkin only had to make 20 saves — eight in the first period, six in each of the final two — for his fourth shutout of the season and 19th of his career as the Rangers turned in one of their most complete defensive performances of the season. They blocked 22 shots and allowed only 14 scoring chances all game, per Natural Stat Trick.
The consecutive shutout victories lifted the Rangers (31-26-4) into a tie points-wise (66) with the Detroit Red Wings for the second wild card in the Eastern Conference. The Red Wings have played one fewer game than the Rangers, who’ve won four of their past five games and seven of 10.
Will Cuylle, J.T. Miller and Artemi Panarin each had a goal an assist in the win. Will Borgen scored their other goal and Zac Jones pick up an assist in his 100th NHL game.
The Islanders (27-26-7) lost for the third time in three games against the Rangers this season. They had won two in a row after losing 5-1 to the Rangers at UBS Arena last Tuesday. With 22 games remaining on their schedule, the Islanders are five points out of the second wild card but have seven teams to pass in the standings.
Ilya Sorokin allowed three goals on 26 shots, and Panarin’s goal was scored into an empty net.
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New York Rangers 4 – New York Islanders 0
Good fortune hasn’t been a hallmark for the Rangers this season. But it certainly was Monday in the first period against the Islanders. The different examples of things going their way directly led to them taking a 2-0 lead into the first intermission.
The first came at 11:46, after it appeared Anders Lee scored the game-opening goal for the Islanders. Lee beat Shesterkin with a sneaky shot from near the right corner, the puck hitting Shesterkin’s pads and caroming into the back of the net for what looked like the Islanders captain’s 24th goal.
But not so fast. The Rangers challenged that the play was offsides and video review upheld the challenge. Islanders center Casey Cizikas was a hair over the blue line ahead of the puck on the zone entry, so the goal came off the scoreboard.
The Rangers responded with the actual game-opening goal at 15:03, one that came off a fluky and fortuitous bounce for them. Jones sent a shot toward the net that deflected off an Islanders stick and then hit Cuylle in the helmet to redirect past a surprised Sorokin to make it 1-0.
Cuylle actually turned his head trying not to get hit by the puck, failed and was rewarded with his 17th goal of the season, second most on the Rangers.
Then with under a minute left in the period, Borgen’s short-handed shot deflected off Adam Boqvist’s stick and shot straight up over Sorokin’s shoulder and bar down to make it 2-0.
It was the 11th shorty this season scored by the Rangers, second most in the NHL, and was a neat looking play that started with Cuylle pushing the puck out to center while absorbing a big check by Islanders defenseman Noah Dobson. Sam Carrick carried the puck into the offensive zone, dropped it to the trailing Borgen and his shot fortunately was deflected up and over Sorokin for his fourth goal of the season.
Just three minutes prior, Borgen limped off the ice after blocking Brock Nelson’s snap shot off the rush. But he never missed a shift and scored the big goal with 44.9 seconds remaining in the period.
The scoreless second period was a low-event affair, not dissimilar from the first period, just without any big breaks. The Islanders hit the crossbar at 10:30 of the second and Rangers defenseman Braden Schneider also caught iron after he wired a long wrist shot past Sorokin with 90 seconds remaining in the period.
Shesterkin, who faced only 14 shots over the first 40 minutes, made a terrific read and save on a cross-crease pass to J.G. Pageau that was deflected into his midsection for his best stop in the second.
The Islanders had a rare rush opportunity 3:20 in the third period when Kyle Palmieri beat Urho Vaakanainen with a power move, but his shot hit the outside of the net with Shesterkin scrambling across the blue paint.
That was a big miss because Miller scored for the Rangers on the next shift. So, instead of 2-1, it was 3-0 Rangers.
The Islanders turned the puck over at center ice and Panarin chipped the puck over the blue line on right wing to Miller, who broke in 2-on-1. Miller looked off the defenseman and goalie and then snapped a shot that beat Sorokin stick side at 3:43.
Since arriving in a trade from the Vancouver Canucks on Jan. 31, Miller has seven goals and seven assists in 11 games, and has produced six multi-point games. He extended his point streak to six games on Monday.
The Islanders aggressively pulled Sorokin for an extra attacker with 7:40 to play in regulation. That backfired when Panarin stuffed in the rebound of an Alexis Lafreniere shot that hit the side of the net with 5:09 to play. The goal was his second in as many games and 25th of the season.
Shesterkin finished off the shutout and now the Rangers seek their first three-game winning streak since Nov. 14-19, when they host the first-place Washington Capitals on Thursday at MSG.
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