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In a 4-1 win, the Rangers play their best to beat the best

By Steve Paulus

UNIONDALE, NEW YORK - APRIL 09: Adam Fox #23 and Alexandar Georgiev #40 of the New York Rangers defend the net against Matt Martin #17 of the New York Islanders at Nassau Coliseum on April 09, 2021 in Uniondale, New York. The Rangers defeated the Islanders 4-1. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
UNIONDALE, NEW YORK - APRIL 09: Adam Fox #23 and Alexandar Georgiev #40 of the New York Rangers defend the net against Matt Martin #17 of the New York Islanders at Nassau Coliseum on April 09, 2021 in Uniondale, New York. The Rangers defeated the Islanders 4-1. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images) /
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Adam Fox #23 and Alexandar Georgiev #40 of the New York Rangers defend the net against Matt Martin #17 of the New York Islanders (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
Adam Fox #23 and Alexandar Georgiev #40 of the New York Rangers defend the net against Matt Martin #17 of the New York Islanders (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images) /

The New York Rangers have had their ups and downs this season.  Thursday night was a down.  This game was one of their best ups this season.  They got timely goals, solid defense and stellar goaltending and ended up with a surprisingly “easy”  win.

The Rangers handed the Islanders only their second home loss this season.  They evened their season series at two games apiece.  Alexandar Georgiev hadn’t played a game in three weeks, but was very sharp and kept the Rangers in the game early.

Though Mika Zibanejad scored an empty net goal at the end of the game the offense came from the other lines, led by Artemi Panarin.  Colin Blackwell continued his torrid scoring and the kids line contributed with the important first goal.

The mantra from David Quinn was that the Rangers have done this before and they need to do it again and need to find that “consistency” that he always talks about.

Quinn did his part, letting the kids play as ice time was very evenly distributed and not just among the forwards.  K’Andre Miller had the most ice time of any Ranger, even more than Adam Fox. Artemi Panarin deservedly played 19:21.  No other forward had more than 17:20 and that was Colin Blackwell.

The distribution of ice time was helped by the fact that there was only one penalty called in the game, a soft first period boarding penalty against Mika Zibanejad.  This could easily have been a game played completely at even strength.

Here is a complete video recap of the game.

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