3 Rangers takeaways from 5-1 thrashing of archrivals on Long Island
It felt like one team made a positive stride forward in the Eastern Conference playoff race Tuesday night at UBS Arena, and the other fell out of the wild-card chase completely, when the New York Rangers defeated the New York Islanders 5-1.
For sure, the game wasn’t as lopsided as the final score indicated. In fact, as Islanders defenseman Ryan Pulock harped on postgame, the hosts did a lot of good things, especially during a strong opening 40 minutes. The only issue for them is that their best player, goalie Ilya Sorokin was strafed for five goals on only 11 shots in that span.
Game over. Likely season over for the Islanders (25-25-7), who fell to 14th in the East. seven points out of the second wild card with six teams to climb over and 25 games to play. The March 7 trade deadline is 10 days away. Time to move veteran rentals like Brock Nelson and Kyle Palmieri, and possibly make a bigger splash by trading defenseman Noah Dobson, to start the future wave now in the present.
But those are their issues. This only affects the Rangers (28-25-4) because they pushed their archrivals further in the rearview mirror. A regulation loss on Long Island would’ve meant the Rangers were only a point up on the Islanders. Yes, one game means so much these days in the standings.
So, the Rangers, who were blown out by the Buffalo Sabres 8-2 on Saturday and stole a 5-3 win in Pittsburgh Penguins the next day, have now won five of seven. They’re tied in points with the Ottawa Senators and Boston Bruins for ninth in the East, and are two out of the second wild card, held by the Columbus Blue Jackets, and four in arrears of the Detroit Red Wings, who are the top wild card.
But there are mixed feelings after the Rangers latest win, as explored in the three takeaways.
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Three takeaways from Rangers 5-1 win against Islanders
1. Take away their eyes
Two of the Rangers biggest issues offensively this season are that they don’t win enough puck battles in the opposing zone and they don’t get enough traffic consistently in front of the other team’s goalie. There are other issues, for sure, but these two are pretty regular.
Well, great things happened Tuesday when the Rangers got in consistently on the forecheck, won puck battles and then took Sorokin’s eyes away time and again with great results. Three longer-range shots by Jonny Brodzinski and one by Urho Vaakanainen ended up in the back of the net — once on a Matt Rempe deflection in front and once each because of screens set up by Sam Carrick, Brennan Othmann and Rempe.
True, Sorokin was not exactly aggressive in trying to fight through screens nor did his defense help him out much. But full credit the Rangers’ third and fourth lines for making it their duty to make Sorokin’s life miserable.
On a night the Rangers got little help from their star forwards, the bottom six came through by keeping it simple and doing the grunt work to help the Blueshirts coast to a crucial victory.
2. Have yourself a night
Brodzinski and Vaakanainen each had career games with three points apiece. Brodzinski scored twice in the first period, including the crushing goal in the final minute that made it 3-1 despite the Rangers only credited with five shots on goal. He also fired another long-range shot on goal that was tipped in by Rempe to make it 5-1 in the second, the towering forward’s second goal of the season capping a great night for the fourth line.
Brodzinski, Rempe and Brennan Othmann each finished plus-3. They formed New York’s most effective line with simple, straight-ahead hard work, and by getting to the net seemingly every shift. The Islanders owned the puck for much of the first 40 minutes, except when this line was out there, and at times when Carrick’s third line produced similar shifts.
Vaakanainen was brutal in Buffalo on Saturday, but the third pair defenseman logged nearly 21 minutes of ice time Tuesday and had the first three-point game of his NHL career. In fact, he had only one two-point outing in 166 previous NHL games before scoring a goal and adding two helpers against the Islanders. His pinch created a turnover in the second period that led a hot moment later to J.T. Miller’s goal that made it 4-1. That felt just as important as his own game-opening goal through a Carrick screen at 6:22 of the first period.
3. Costly victory
Not all the news was good Tuesday for the Rangers, and, no, we’re not even referencing another Alexis Lafreniere no-show (zero shots on goal again). Injuries to their top two defensemen — Adam Fox and K’Andre Miller — could make this a costly victory for the Rangers.
Fox is their best defenseman, the 2021 Norris Trophy winner, and one of the Rangers’ most indispensable players. He landed hard on his shoulder after tumbling to the ice early in the third period and knew immediately it was bad. He skated straight off the ice and hustled to the dressing room. No word yet on his condition, but it doesn’t look good.
Miller departed early in the second period with a lower-body injury. That he didn’t return is a major concern. But, like Fox, we must wait for official word on his condition.
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