3 Rangers takeaways from another shutout victory as momentum builds
Don’t look now but the New York Rangers are tied for the second wild card in the Eastern Conference. The Rangers pulled even in points with the Detroit Red Wings (66) after their second consecutive 4-0 shutout win on home ice, this time against the New York Islanders on Monday, 24 hours after blanking the Nashville Predators.
It was their second win against the Islanders in a week, after having defeated them 5-1 at UBS Arena last Tuesday. The Rangers are 3-0-0 against their archrivals this season, and all but crushed any remaining hope for the Islanders in this East playoff race.
The Rangers (31-26-4) are headed in the right direction with four wins in their past five games and seven in 10. They are 15-7-3 since the calendar flipped to January, after closing out 2024 with a miserable 4-15-0 stretch.
And since trading longtime defensive stalwart Ryan Lindgren to the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday, the Rangers haven’t allowed a goal in six periods of hockey. Go figure.
The latest victory was a low-event game, which you might think would play into the Islanders hands. It didn’t. The Rangers were firmly in control of this one, well, at least after Anders Lee’s game-opening goal in the first period was wiped off the scoreboard when video review confirmed the play was offsides.
But the point is that the Rangers beat the Islanders at their own game. Low event. Keep it simple. Defense first. Mind you, the Islanders are a severely challenged team offensively, especially without injured star Mathew Barzal, but the Rangers largely smothered them over 60 minutes Monday.
It was a good win and sets up a tasty showdown with the first-place Washington Capitals on Wednesday at MSG.
Related: Winners, losers from Rangers 4-0 win against Islanders
Three takeaways from Rangers 4-0 win against Islanders
Here are three takeaways from another shutout win for the Rangers on Monday.
1. When there’s a Will …
Or make that, when there are two Wills — as in Cuylle and Borgen, who each played big roles in the latest Rangers win Monday.
Now a second-line fixture, Cuylle scored his 17th goal (second most on the Rangers) when a puck bounced off his helmet and into the Islanders net at 15:03 of the first period. It was a lucky bounce but only happened because Cuylle was, as usual, in the right place, creating havoc in front of Islanders goalie Ilya Sorokin. The 23-year-old is heating up, too, with six points (four goals, two assists) in his past seven games.
Borgen did at both ends of the rink, playing a forceful defensive game in his own end with 19+ minutes TOI. And the defenseman also scored the biggest goal of the game, a short-handed snipe that went bar down and made it 2-0 Rangers with 44.9 seconds to play in the first period.
Cuylle, by the way, started that short-handed sequence by chipping the puck out to center for Sam Carrick, while absorbing a big hit from Noah Dobson, which, it should be noted, took Dobson away from defending the Rangers rush up ice.
2. Bread cooking
For all the right reasons, J.T. Miller (who had another goal and assist Monday) again was the focal point of the Rangers attack against the Islanders. But how about the re-emergence of Artemi Panarin the past two games?
After going six games without scoring a goal, Panarin has one in each of the past two games. Monday was also his second straight two-point outing. As important as the production is the jump Panarin’s displayed the past two games, including against the Islanders when he led all players with six shots on goal and 10 shot attempts. He also hustled to make a terrific backcheck to break up a prime scoring chance for the Islanders early in the first period.
Plain and simple, this is the noticeable play the Rangers need from Panarin and have seen far too little of. Panarin could eb the biggest difference maker for the Rangers in their stretch run here.
3. Block party
Igor Shesterkin made 21 saves to earn his fourth shutout this season and 19th of his NHL career. Yet give credit where credit is due. The Rangers blocked 22 Islanders shots in front of Shesterkin, making sure their goalie had a relatively easy night of it.
Braden Schneider and Zac Jones led the block party with four apiece. Schneider now has a team-high 115 blocked shots this season. And Jones continues to play a smart, solid two-way game on defense after replacing the injured Adam Fox in the lineup three games ago. Jones picked up an assist, as well, in his 100th NHL game.
K’Andre Miller had three blocks, and Vincent Trocheck and Brett Berard led the rookies with two each.
All in all, it was an excellent team effort in front of Shesterkin.
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