Well, that was fun (and stressful!)
Thanks to an early goal by Anders Lee, the New York Islanders maintained a lead essentially all game, despite some scary moments and frankly pretty sloppy play against the New York Rangers.
Of course, holding on to that lead wouldn’t have been possible without incredible play by David Rittich, who turned away all 26 shots taken by the Rangers, including a penalty shot. He really earned his shutout; lots of those saves were tough ones, and he was key during the late
6 on 4 and 6 on 5 opportunities for the Rangers.
The power play really was atrocious tonight, going 0 for 5 and giving up a penalty shot. It’s hard to pinpoint one specific issue, but it seems like they’re way too preoccupied looking for perfect chances, and there’s also a few too many passers on PP1. It definitely looked stronger with Emil Heineman replacing Jonathan Drouin (who has been pretty mediocre overall, it must be said), but still, it’s pretty terrible to go 0 for 5 on the power play in any game, especially a rivalry one you’d like to put away.
But still, the Islanders pulled it out thanks to Rittich and the penalty kill, and Simon Holmstrom made sure we’d have nothing to worry about in the last 16 seconds of the game, giving fans one more goal to cheer about and sending Rangers fans home unhappy.
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First Period
Less than a minute in, Anders Lee put the puck past Igor Shesterkin to give the Islanders the lead.
Then, Mat Barzal had a good chance, but Vladislav Gavrikov took him out, earning himself a tripping penalty, but the Rangers killed that.
Marshall Warren hit the post, Scott Mayfield had a shot tipped on goal, but Shesterkin made the save.
David Rittich made a big save on Will Cuylle on a 2 on 1, which was the first shot for the Rangers after 12 minutes of play.
Casey Cizikas had a chance saved on a partial breakaway, and Shesterkin also made saves against Tony DeAngelo and Max Shabanov on the same shift.
Second Period
Shesterkin and Rittich exchanged saves, and then Alexis Lafreniere was called for holding Jonathan Drouin. Bo Horvat had a shot saved and Simon Holmstrom put a great chance wide, and the Rangers killed the penalty.
Rittich made saves on Artemi Panarin and Vincent Trocheck, and then Shabanov drew a penalty on Braden Schneider, who tripped Shabanov into Shesterkin. Shesterkin was down for a while but stayed in the game, and the Islanders went to the power play.
On that power play, Shesterkin saved Drouin’s one timer, and the Rangers killed the penalty.
Then, Adam Pelech was called for interference, sending the Isles to the penalty kill. Cuylle had a shot hit the bar and post, and it was called a goal but clearly never crossed the line, and the Islanders got the kill.
Barzal took a hit with some head contact from Cuylle as he was turning on his skates. He went down the tunnel with two seconds left in the period, despite the Isles icing the puck.
Third Period
Barzal was back for the third, looking fine, so it was likely for precautionary purposes that he was pulled from the second period.
Rittich made a good save on Panarin on a 2 on 1, and also saved an attempt by Lafreniere, while Drouin had a backhand saved by Shesterkin.
Noah Laba and Tony DeAngelo both went to the box, for tripping and interference respectively, giving us some 4 on 4 hockey.
On that 4 on 4, Mayfield put a shot off the post, Matthew Schaefer had a shot saved, and a Barzal backhand was also saved after a strong backcheck from Simon Holmstrom set him up.
After the 4 on 4, Cuylle ran into Rittich behind the net, and the Islanders went to the power play as he was called for goaltender interference. On this power play, Emil Heineman replaced Drouin on PP1 and had some good looks, but then Cal Ritchie slashed Carson Soucy on a shorthanded break, and Soucy earned a penalty shot.
Rittich saved that penalty shot, and the power play continued, but the Isles couldn’t convert. They soon had another power play chance, when Trocheck took a holding penalty, but they couldn’t score on that one, either.
Then, Ritchie was called for tripping, and the Islanders killed that penalty, only for Bo Horvat to be called for tripping as well, just about 10 seconds after the kill.
The Rangers pulled Shesterkin with 2 minutes left in the period and about a minute left on their power play for a 6 on 4, but the Islanders, largely thanks to Rittich and some crafty work by JG Pageau, killed the penalty and stopped the Rangers’ chances on the 6 on 5.
Simon Holmstrom shot the puck into the empty net with 16 seconds left, closing out the Islanders’ 2-0 win with a late goal to match Lee’s early one.
Up Next
Next, the Islanders face another division rival, heading to Columbus to take on the Blue Jackets tomorrow at 5pm EST. Assuming the team sticks to the plan they announced, Rittich will play again given Ilya Sorokin’s injury.
