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New York Rangers Stock Market: The aftermath of the battle of New York

By Jennifer Moglia

NEW YORK, NY - JANUARY 12: The Rangers celebrate a win at Barclays Center on January 12, 2019 the Brooklyn borough of New York City. (Photo by Mike Stobe/NHLI via Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY - JANUARY 12: The Rangers celebrate a win at Barclays Center on January 12, 2019 the Brooklyn borough of New York City. (Photo by Mike Stobe/NHLI via Getty Images) /
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NEW YORK, NEW YORK – JANUARY 12: Devon Toews #25 of the New York Islanders pushes Jesper Fast #17 of the New York Rangers into the boards during the first period at the Barclays Center on January 12, 2019 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – JANUARY 12: Devon Toews #25 of the New York Islanders pushes Jesper Fast #17 of the New York Rangers into the boards during the first period at the Barclays Center on January 12, 2019 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images) /

Up: Jesper Fast

This week, Jesper Fast definitely picked up his pace a bit. He had two goals in two separate games.

The first one came against the Vegas Golden Knights. The second came while facing the New York Islanders for the first time this week.

Even though the Rangers lost the game versus the Knights, Fast’s goal late in the third breathed some life back into the team. Regardless of the fact that a comeback seemed impossible, and it obviously didn’t happen, the tally showed that Fast’s head is always in the game, despite being down in the score.

As for his second goal of the week, it was crucial to keeping the Rangers competitive in the first half of the “battle of New York.” After going down 3-2, Neal Pionk took a shot from the blue-line.  Pavel Buchnevich, along with Fast, made a few attempts in front of the net before the right-wing eventually batted it past Islanders’ goaltender Robin Lehner. This shifted the momentum of the game and put Manhattan’s team back in it, even though they eventually lost.

Now, why were these two tallies, his sixth and seventh of the season, so important? First, they broke a four-game goalless and pointless streak.

Fast last scored in a two-goal performance against the Nashville Predators on December 29th, 2018. While he isn’t known to be an  offensive player, it’s nice to see him put a few points up.

His contributions always go deeper than the scoresheet, but those contributions do matter. If nothing else, it also raises his potential trade value with the deadline looming at the end of next month.

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