Well, that was unexpected.
I sort of expected the Islanders to crap out at some point. Maybe I was just preparing myself for the worst. You sort of learn to do that every now and again when you support this team. But it didn't happen. If anything, the Islanders got stronger as the game went on.
The first period was some pretty awful hockey. In fact, let's forget it ever happened. The second was a little better, but the Rangers pretty much dominated play. It wasn't until the third period that things got going... or, to put it more appropriately, for the Rangers to shoot themselves in the foot.
Two horrendous giveaways on the power play led the Islanders to score two shorthanded goals. And while I'm still not convinced that their standing as the team with the most shorthanded goals in the NHL means anything more than that they take a lot of stupid penalties, those two goals were huge. That they came from the likes of Nate Thompson and Richard Park is quite telling. Because these are the players the make the Islanders a tough team to play against. Nobody's under the illusion that the Islanders are an extremely talented team, but when you're going against guys like Thompson and Park, you have to work a lot harder to win.
After those two shorthanded goals, the Rangers were putty in the Islanders' hands. The Rangers immediately started pressing, trying to make the perfect play. That never works. The Rangers got frustrated, as evidenced by Nigel Dawes dropping the gloves with Jeff Tambellini with less than ten minutes left in the third period. The Rangers ended up getting one to make things interesting, but the game effectively ended after the Isles' secondhanded goal.
So, who to blame for tonight's poor performance by the Rangers? Pretty much everybody. Michal Rozsival is going to get the blame for much of this loss - Billy Jaffe said it best when he said Rozsival was "guilty of not being effective" - but you can also pin some of this on the offense for not scoring, on Dmitri Kalinin for being Dmitri Kalinin, and on Henrik Lundqvist for getting beat on the second goal, which he easily should have had.
For the Islanders? Much of the team played well, even if the supposed "scorers" continued what has pretty much been a season-long vacation. The star of the show would have to be Joey MacDonald, who probably played the best game of his career. Islander fans needed to see this kind of performance out of Joey MacDonald. Going into the building of your biggest rival and coming within 100 seconds of a shutout is pretty special. Plus, his performance led to this post-game exchange between C.J. Papa and Stan Fischler...
Had they heard this, I think even the Ranger fans among us would have to say it was all worth it. And as someone who hears these nursery rhymes dozens of times a day, it made me particularly happy. Every MSG Plus broadcast makes me a smarter hockey fan, but a dumber person. And for that, I'd like to thank everybody involved in making the magic happen, from Howie and Billy to C.J. and Stan. You all do a wonderful job.
Anyway.
Jaffe brought up the dreaded "Ranger hangover" in the same sentence as "Thursday's winnable game against Atlanta". Gulp. Make no mistake about it, the Islanders will be destroyed by an awful Thrashers team. The Islanders have been pretty awesome lately, but it can't last forever. At least not as long as guys like Mike Comrie and Doug Weight aren't scoring goals. The Rangers, on the other hand, are facing a Tampa Bay team on Thursday that has won three straight games and are finally living up to their pre-season hype. It's about time. To be honest, the Rangers-Lightning game will be a better one than Islanders-Thrashers. But like tonight, it'll be a good night for hockey in New York.
I sort of expected the Islanders to crap out at some point. Maybe I was just preparing myself for the worst. You sort of learn to do that every now and again when you support this team. But it didn't happen. If anything, the Islanders got stronger as the game went on.
The first period was some pretty awful hockey. In fact, let's forget it ever happened. The second was a little better, but the Rangers pretty much dominated play. It wasn't until the third period that things got going... or, to put it more appropriately, for the Rangers to shoot themselves in the foot.
Two horrendous giveaways on the power play led the Islanders to score two shorthanded goals. And while I'm still not convinced that their standing as the team with the most shorthanded goals in the NHL means anything more than that they take a lot of stupid penalties, those two goals were huge. That they came from the likes of Nate Thompson and Richard Park is quite telling. Because these are the players the make the Islanders a tough team to play against. Nobody's under the illusion that the Islanders are an extremely talented team, but when you're going against guys like Thompson and Park, you have to work a lot harder to win.
After those two shorthanded goals, the Rangers were putty in the Islanders' hands. The Rangers immediately started pressing, trying to make the perfect play. That never works. The Rangers got frustrated, as evidenced by Nigel Dawes dropping the gloves with Jeff Tambellini with less than ten minutes left in the third period. The Rangers ended up getting one to make things interesting, but the game effectively ended after the Isles' secondhanded goal.
So, who to blame for tonight's poor performance by the Rangers? Pretty much everybody. Michal Rozsival is going to get the blame for much of this loss - Billy Jaffe said it best when he said Rozsival was "guilty of not being effective" - but you can also pin some of this on the offense for not scoring, on Dmitri Kalinin for being Dmitri Kalinin, and on Henrik Lundqvist for getting beat on the second goal, which he easily should have had.
For the Islanders? Much of the team played well, even if the supposed "scorers" continued what has pretty much been a season-long vacation. The star of the show would have to be Joey MacDonald, who probably played the best game of his career. Islander fans needed to see this kind of performance out of Joey MacDonald. Going into the building of your biggest rival and coming within 100 seconds of a shutout is pretty special. Plus, his performance led to this post-game exchange between C.J. Papa and Stan Fischler...
C.J.: So, Stan, what'd you see out there tonight?
Stan: I'll tell you what I saw, and it was Old MacDonald's Farm! "And a save-save here and a save-save there, here a save, there a save, everywhere a save-save!"
Had they heard this, I think even the Ranger fans among us would have to say it was all worth it. And as someone who hears these nursery rhymes dozens of times a day, it made me particularly happy. Every MSG Plus broadcast makes me a smarter hockey fan, but a dumber person. And for that, I'd like to thank everybody involved in making the magic happen, from Howie and Billy to C.J. and Stan. You all do a wonderful job.
Anyway.
Jaffe brought up the dreaded "Ranger hangover" in the same sentence as "Thursday's winnable game against Atlanta". Gulp. Make no mistake about it, the Islanders will be destroyed by an awful Thrashers team. The Islanders have been pretty awesome lately, but it can't last forever. At least not as long as guys like Mike Comrie and Doug Weight aren't scoring goals. The Rangers, on the other hand, are facing a Tampa Bay team on Thursday that has won three straight games and are finally living up to their pre-season hype. It's about time. To be honest, the Rangers-Lightning game will be a better one than Islanders-Thrashers. But like tonight, it'll be a good night for hockey in New York.
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