Thirty Stories Up

Pretty good first period out of these guys, ending with a 1-0 Islanders advantage off a sweet little backhanded scoop by Bergenheim that simply found its way between Lundqvist’s legs.

The Rangers started off strong, with a flurry of nine shots very quickly. Particularly impressive so far have been Callahan, whose strength visibly improved during the offseason, and Gomez, who seems to have a good handle on the European style of entering the zone, zigging and zagging as he carries the puck in; he’ll be a good replacement for Nylander in that regard, and I expect that this is why he’s probably going to start the season as Jagr’s pivot. Dubinsky has also had some quality shots, and seems to be displaying pretty good aptitude for a turning shot that lets him get a quality chance even when he’s closely covered.

The big story of the first period has been Joey Macdonald, the Isles netminder; the Rangers came at him hard right out of the gate, and he made some solid, impressive saves to keep the clean sheet so far. If he’s going to go all the way, he could quickly build up favorable impressions among fans and coaches.

The game’s been moving quickly, and there’s no sign that the brawl that was the previous Isles-Rangers tilt has carried over yet; there are too many young kids on both sides trying too hard to prove something right now for rivalries to boil over at the moment. In the third period, however, when people start getting tired and taking lazy penalties, there still could be the potential for some heated arguments.

2nd Period:

Well, the floodgates opened for the Rangers here. The one line that has really been clicking is Gomez, pivoting Dawes and Shanahan. Dawes has really worked on his passing, and has been setting up Shanahan left and right, leading to two classic goals from the elder statesman of the Rangers’ forward corps. Gomez’ puck-carrying skills paid off for him as well, with his goal opening the floodgates.

Dubinsky is trying to introduce some edge to his game, laying a poorly-thought out late hit to Johnson of the Flyers, which led to a couple of rounds of fisticuffs; Dubinsky handled himself decently, freeing up his left enough to lay out a pretty good series of shots.

Macdonald’s hot streak couldn’t last, with two of the Rangers’ goals finding their way past him into the twine; still, he played an outstanding 20 minutes, and with some work on his consistency, could be a guy to watch in the future.

Also, I can’t say this enough about Blair Betts: the man knows how to use his body to get in the way of the puck. He blocks shots, he blocks passes, he deflects the puck out of the defensive zone, and he generally just gets in the play. I really love his dedication and the style of hockey he plays; he has to have a lot of hockey smarts to shut down the lanes the way he does.

Third Period:

Lots of scrapping here, but not much goal-scoring; the Isles bring it to within two goals, but Prucha buries an empty-netter at the end to put the Rangers up 5-2.

Isles-Rangers has every potential to be just as scrappy when the games count.  Things looked good for the whole group tonight, with that scoring line of Dawes-Gomez-Shanahan being an absolute standout, and getting all three stars of the game.  The Isles’ loss here doesn’t mean too much, as they were dressing a young team against the Rangers’ veterans, but both sets of coaches still have difficult decisions left to make in the coming days.

Filed under: Hockey

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