Career nights for Jonny Brodzinski, Urho Vaakanainen lift Rangers past Islanders 5-1
Jonny Brodzinski and Urho Vaakanainen each had an NHL career-high three points to power the New York Rangers past the New York Islanders 5-1 on Tuesday at UBS Arena. The win was their second straight and fifth in the past seven games.
However, it came with a price. Defenseman K’Andre Miller left the game in the second period with a lower-body injury and Adam Fox sustained an upper-body injury in the third period.
Brodzinski had the first two-goal game of his NHL career, and he also assisted on Matt Rempe’s goal in the second period. Vaakanainen scored his second goal of the season and assisted on two others.
J.T. Miller also scored for the Rangers and Ryan Lindgren had two assists. Before leaving the game, Fox extended his point streak to seven games with a first-period assist.
Igor Shesterkin earned his 20th win of the season, finishing with 36 saves for the Rangers (29-25-4).
Alexander Romanov scored the only goal against Shesterkin. Ilya Sorokin allowed five goals on just 11 shots before being pulled after the second period. It was the fourth straight loss for the Islanders (25-25-7).
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New York Rangers 5 – New York Islanders 1
A look at both traditional statistics and updated analytics would have you believing that the Islanders were running the Rangers out of UBS Arena in the opening 40 minutes. But the reality was the exact opposite.
The Rangers scored two goals on their first three shots, three goals on five shots in the first period, and five goals on 10 shots, including goals on consecutive shots in the second period. It seemed like anything and everything the Rangers shot towards Sorokin ended up in the back of the net.
All this despite the Islanders holding a 29-12 advantage in scoring chances, including 9-4 in high-danger opportunities, through two periods, per Natural Stat Trick. Yet the Rangers led 5-1.
And outside of Shesterkin, who was sharp between the pipes, the damage was largely done by Rangers role players.
Vaakanainen got the party started at 6:22 of the first period, when he wired a right-wing shot past Sorokin with Sam Carrick causing havoc in front. The Islanders did answer quickly, with Romanov scoring his third goal on a long shot as Kyle Palmieri was a distraction in front of Shesterkin.
A pair of Brodzinski goals gave the Rangers a 3-1 lead heading into the first intermission. At 12:39, he took a feed from Braden Schneider on right wing and fired a shot that deflected off a defender’s skate and then went right between Rempe’s legs and into the net past a befuddled Sorokin. Brodzinski’s spinning shot from just inside the blue line beat Sorokin over the glove to make it 3-1 at 19:12.
Brennan Othmann, playing his fourth NHL game and first this season with Chris Kreider sidelined again with an upper-body injury, waved his stick at Brodzinski’s shot as it flew past him and for a moment it appeared he may have touched it for his first NHL goal. It wasn’t, but Othmann’s effort may have thrown Sorokin off just the same.
Shesterkin took center stage early in the second period. The Rangers were sloppy defensively and the Islanders nearly took advantage several times, but Shesterkin held them at bay, notably making consecutive saves in tight against Bo Horvat.
The Rangers goalie also made two excellent one-on-one saves with the Islanders short-handed within the first five minutes of the second. Shesterkin first stoned J.G. Pageau and then Brock Nelson a bit later.
Sorokin was far less busy at his end of the rink, and also far less successful than Shesterkin, his friend from back home in Russia. Sorokin let Miller’s one-timer from the slot go right through the 5-hole to make it 4-1 at 11:21.
There wasn’t much Sorokin could do at 16:30, when the massive Rempe screened him and then deflected Brodzinski’s long-range shot into the net for his second goal of the season.
Sorokin was replaced at the start of the third period by Jakub Skarek, a rookie who began the season as the Islanders fourth-string goalie. He elevated to the NHL following injuries to backup goalie Semyon Varlamaov and Marcus Hogberg.
Skarek made two excellent saves on Artemi Panarin in the third period, first off a 2-on-1 rush and then on a wide-open left-wing look. He stopped each of the seven Rangers shots he faced in the period.
The most notable moment of the third period took place at 3:16, when Fox got tied up in front of his own net and fell hard to the ice. Fox was penalized for hooking on the play, but more importantly he got up and skated straight to the dressing room, favoring his left shoulder. Shortly thereafter, he was ruled out with an upper-body injury, one period after K’Andre Miller was ruled out with a lower-body injury.
During that Islanders power play, Schneider blocked a shot with his left knee and was in tremendous pain, unable to get off the ice with the puck in the Rangers end. He finally was able to limp off; and the Rangers breathed a sigh of relief when he was able to take a regular shift and finish the game.
These teams will meet again Monday at Madison Square Garden. But next up for the Rangers is a home contest against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Friday.
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