Postgame: Rangers Score Five in Win Over Isles

Whether this was just a “good night” or an actual turning point in the season, tonight’s 5-2 victory over the rival Islanders was, in a sense, a must win situation and the Rangers did exactly that in an explosive fashion. For the first time since mid-November, the Blueshirts scored five goals in a game and the first time in their last eight in which they found the back of the net more than two times. This was certainly an unexpected response by this club to last night’s pathetic 2-1 defeat, but nonetheless, a very motivating one.

The first period, once again, was a disaster for the Rangers as they were turning pucks over, getting outshot 14-4, and getting outworked, but somehow, they managed to enter the intermission with a 2-0 lead. The first goal was set-up by Marian Gaborik when he threw the puck to the slot and it redirected onto the tape of Ryan Callahan. Callahan buried it past a flopping Roloson to put the Blueshirts up 1-0 on the powerplay. That was followed up by a Chris Drury tally which broke a 19-game goal scoring drought and gave the good guys their 2-0 lead through the first twenty.

Just 27 seconds into the second period, Marian Gaborik found Callahan in the slot once again, where Callahan snuck a low shot through the legs of Roloson for his second powerplay goal of the contest. Nine minutes later, however, the Islanders put themselves on the board with a goal from defenseman Andrew MacDonald, the first of his career, on a slapper from the point.

In the third stanza, it was basically all Rangers, as the team exploded with two more goals from Marian Gaborik and Artem Anisimov. Gaborik’s came off of a feed from Prospal, which he blasted past Roloson for his 24th on the year. Anisimov’s was simply a thing of beauty as he split the defense, drove to the net, and found the twine on a creative deke.Give him credit because he only had 6:24 of ice time, but made the most of it. The rest was all Henrik Lundqvist.

Lundqvist, who is my choice for player of the game, was absolutely amazing, putting on a 35 save display and stopping almost everything the Isles put his way. Hank, along with Sean Avery, gathered the team for a meeting without the coaches earlier today and discussed what needed to be done moving forward. Well, Henrik sure backed up his words with the way he played tonight on Long Island, despite him falling and leaving an empty net for Thompson to shoot at. Luckily, he missed….somehow.

Ryan Callahan played one of the best games in his career in this one, registering two goals and two assists, the first time he has ever scored four points in one game. Ryan went to the net hard, was relentless on the forecheck, and was clutch on the perfect penalty-kill for the Rangers. The same can be said of Captain Chris Drury, who started the game on the fourth line with Boyle and Brashear. You can tell Drury was a determined man when he came out and flattened Jack Hillen along the boards in one of his first few shifts, something he is not known for, and then capitalized on the Avery rebound late in the first to extend the lead to two. Drury had just over eight minutes of ice time, so obviously Tortorella means no bones about it when he says that he will hold players accountable for poor play, which is a good thing considering that was not the case early on this season.

Sean Avery and Vinny Prospal were also very noticeable on the offensive end of things. Vinny picked up two assists after being reunited with his partner in crime, Marian Gaborik who keeps on rolling, now leading the NHL in scoring. Avery recorded an assist, but was more of a force on the forecheck and in front of the net, the same place where he caused havoc in last night’s game at the Garden.

On defense, I was very pleased with pretty much everyone. Mike Del Zotto played with a sharp edge to his game, rookie blue-liners Sanguinetti and Heikkinen both were solid, Rozsival played well, and Staal and Girardi really picked up their game in the second period. Yes, they could have been a bit tighter in the first, but beyond that, they were playing much better than we have seen lately.

With Heikkinen and Sanguinetti both playing decent, despite only about an average of nine minutes on the ice, it will be interesting to see if Tortorella decides to re-insert veteran Wade Redden back into the lineup for Saturday when the Rangers visit the struggling Flyers. Personally, I do not think he will, but there is always a chance. Same deal with Ales Kotalik, who was not missed on the powerplay at all, with the Blueshirts scoring three separate times with the man advantage.

Overall, a solid bounce-back effort by the team after a terrible performance in the first half of this home-and-home on Wednesday. Splitting the series, the Rangers and Islanders are now tied in points, and will be playing each other once again the day after Christmas. But for now, it is about consistancy and if the Rangers will be able to accumulate wins in bunches, as opposed to one here and there.
(Pictures courtesy of Getty Images and AP Photo)