Rangers Fall Flat To Isles
It’s been a long time since the Rangers hit the ice in an NHL game, what with them missing the playoffs for a seventh consecutive season followed up by last year’s lockout. In the intervening time the Rangers have re-made their roster, jettisoning much of the remainder of their roster and publicly embracing the long sought after rebuild. If last night’s game is any indication (and we’re not saying it necessarily was), they have a long way to go, both in rebuilding and credibility.
Icing a largely inexperienced team (only 9 of the 20 players had more than 65 games of NHL experience), the Rangers were both outworked and outmaneuvered early as they quickly fell to a 3-0 deficit in just over five minutes of play. The visiting Blueshirts looked ill-prepared for the NHL’s crackdown on obstruction (taking two quick penalties in the first four minutes of play) and distinctly disorganized in their own zone as they unsuccessfully tried to kill off the first three penalties.
The scoring for the Islanders started early, when Alexei Yashin took advantage of a Michael Nylander penalty to put the home team up 1-0. The newly named Islanders captain caught Anders Eriksson backing into the zone and, used the Rangers defenseman as a screen from the top of the left circle, easily beating Weekes on the glove side. The Islanders made it 2-0 just two minutes later when Zhitnik needed just 10 seconds to convert on their second power play of the night, beating Weekes square-on from just inside the blueline with traffic in front. Ninety seconds later and Weekes gave up a third goal (again to Zhitnik), and it was clear that the new Rangers netminder will need to be a lot sharper when the regular season rolls around if he hopes to keep the team even close to being competitive.
On the positive side Weekes did manage to settle down a little as the game went on, as did the entire team generally. While never looking completely comfortable in net, Weekes positioning improved and he made a couple of useful saves in the 17 shots he faced in 30 minutes of work. By contrast his replacement the rookie Swede Henrik Lundqvist, looked poised beyond his year, demonstrating his speed almost immediately in denying Jason Blake a low opportunity on the open side with a quick move to his left and folllowing it up with a strong glove save minutes later. Lundqvist finished the night with just one goal against in 17 shots, though perhaps could have had that one back too, giving up a goal across his body on a shot from the low right circle off the rush.