New York Rangers Win Wild Game Over Islanders 6-5

“It’s Helter Skelter here in this game tonight! What chaos!”  Those words usually uttered by Doc Emerick can perfectly describe this game.

Tonight, the New York Rangers beat the New York Islanders by the final score of 6-5.  Nobody played a lick of defense, but the Rangers are now only two points behind the first place Islanders.  Here is a recap of how it all went down:

First Period

The Islanders wasted no time.  After the opening face-off, Cam Talbot gave the puck away to John Tavares behind the net, and Tavares put it into the open net just 11 seconds in.  Then at the 11:46 mark, after a Talbot save off of a shot by Travis Hamonic, Frans Nielsen put home the rebound to make it 2-0.  The Rangers then struck back.  After Dan Girardi centered the puck from behind the net, Ryan McDonagh pinched down from the point and fired the puck past a screened Jaroslav Halak  to get the Rangers on the board.  It was chaos on both ends of the ice, and after one period, the Islanders lead 2-1 and were oushooting the Rangers 22-11.

Second Period

This is where it got really fun.  Just a minute and 20 seconds in, Johnny Boychuk came off the bench and leaned into a slap shot that was about to cross the blue line, which eluded Cam Talbot and gave the Islanders a 3-1 lead.  Less than two minutes later, after a little pass from Derek Stepan, Chris Kreider broke in on Boychuk and fired a shot over the glove of Halak, off the right post and in.  Just 23 second later, after nice forecheck work by the Rangers’ third line, Ryan McDonagh fired a point shot, which went off of a defenseman’s stick and in for his second of the game and tied the contest.  The scoring kept coming, as the Islanders struck back.  Right after an Islander power play expired, Travis Hamonic took a shot that produced a rebound and Ryan Strome put home the loose puck to give the Islanders a 4-3 lead.  Things were looking bleak for the Rangers, as their momentum was stripped away.  At the end of two, the Islanders lead 4-3 and were still outshooting the Rangers 37-24.

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Third Period

Ok, I lied.  THIS is where it got really fun.  After numerous chances by the Rangers, and they were leading in the shot category 7-0, the Islanders’ Ryan Strome scored again to make it 5-3 on a 3-1 in which Talbot was caught cheating to the far side.  Then, after a nice defensive play by Kevin Klein, Chris Kreider broke up the ice, and dropped a pass to Derek Stepan who rifled it past Halak to make it 5-4.  The fun was kept up as Johnny Boychuk gave the puck up to Stepan, who broke in on a two-on-one with Martin St. Louis.  Stepan feathered a pass over to St. Louis who put it top shelf to tie the game, his first in the last 16 games.  Then, with 4:32 left, Kevin Klein put the icing on the cake, as he took a cross ice pass from Derick Brassard and ripped it past Halak to give the Rangers a 6-5 lead.  With 30 seconds left, the Islanders hit the post, but that’s as close as they would come, and the Rangers escaped with a win

Three Stars

Kevin Klein- 1 goal, 1 assist

Ryan McDonagh- 2 goals

Ryan Strome- 2 goals