New York Islanders Defeat New York Rangers

Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

If you judge the game based solely on the final score, the New York Islanders 6-3 victory over the New York Rangers tonight would lead you to assume the Isles handled their biggest rivals with relative ease.

That assumption would leave you far from the truth. That sentiment was echoed by Islanders coach Jack Capuano in his post game interview. When asked what grade he would assign his team on the night he responded “C+… B”. Not a sterling grade for a team that just doubled up on their fiercest rival on the road.

The Rangers dictated the pace of play for the first two periods of this hockey game, with the puck spending the majority of the time down in the Isles end of the ice. Despite the possession and shots on goal advantage being tilted dramatically in the Rangers favor, they couldn’t find a way to put the visiting Islanders in their rear view mirror. This proved costly.

The Rangers took a lead in both periods, but allowed the Islanders to answer back in each to level the score at both intervals.

Then came the third period, and the dynamic changed. The Islanders blew the game wide open in the first 5 and a half minutes of the final frame, and never looked back. Goals from Kyle Okposo (his 100th NHL goal), the red hot Brock Nelson and Mikhail Grabovski gave the Isles a three goal cushion in what seemed like the blink of an eye. After that, the rest of the game was a formality.

Nick Leddy added his first goal in orange and blue to pad the Isles lead to 6-2, only to have Rick Nash notch his second tally of the game to provide the final score line.

Nash opened the scoring in the first with a fluke goal that beat Jaroslav Halak from a deep angle, certainly a goal the Isles netminder would like to have back, but outside of that moment he was extremely solid.

The most shocking aspect of this game was the lack of discipline from the Rangers defense. This is a team whose strength is on their backline, and that is exactly what let them down tonight. Bad turnovers and blown coverage allowed the Isles to repeatedly have dangerous players left alone in the slot area. When you allow players like John Tavares to get the puck unmarked in those areas, he will make you pay more often than not. He did just that to tie the game in the second period. Nelson’s goal was on a similar play.

Johnny Boychuk added another power play goal for the Isles in the first, continuing his torrid pace. Boychuk, who did not get much power play time for the Boston Bruins the past few years, but has made the most of his opportunity to be the catalyst at the Isles point on their top unit.

This game is certainly not a blueprint for the way a team should look to win games. Allowing a team to impose their will for two of the three periods will lead to negative results most of the time, but the Isles made it work tonight. The Rangers came in a motivated bunch. They had dropped their previous two games, both were disappointing efforts by the Blueshirts. They came out like a team on a mission for forty minutes against the Isles, but ultimately, a lapse to start the third was all the Isles needed to put this game to bed.

However, this game said more about the Isles than it did the Rangers. This is no longer a team that has to play perfect hockey to win. Heck, they don’t have to play perfect hockey to turn a game into a laugher with ten minutes to go. They have the depth of scoring, and a goaltender who can keep them in games, that given a few chances, they can pull a game out of the fire. That’s exactly what happened tonight.

Halak, even though he allowed a goal that any pro goalie would want back, kept the Isles in it long enough, then the offense did the rest. Six different Islanders found the back of the net tonight, only four Rangers have scored a goal this season. Good goaltending and balanced scoring is the recipe for success in the NHL.