Rangers Shutout Again and lost to the Islanders, Losses in First Seven Straight

Fifth time in these first seven games, the Rangers were shut out in another loss at home.

New York, NY- The New York Rangers returned to Madison Square Garden after their big road victory against the Detroit Red Wings. Facing the rival New York Islanders, the Rangers were ready to play and finally get that first win at home. Once again, they get off to a good start, then once the dam breaks, it’s another loss. They fell to the Islanders by a final score of five to nothing.

The stretch pass leads to a two-on-one

After a solid ten minutes in the first period, the downfall began when Kyle Palmieri picked up the puck inside his own zone, sent a long pass to Emil Heineman, to lead into a two-on-one. Made the cross-ice pass to Bo Horvat and scored at 10:29 of the first period.

Late goal in the first period

The Islanders took advantage at center ice and stole the puck. J.G. Pageau started another two-on-one, giving the puck to Anthony Duclair, then a quick pass to Jonathan Drouin. He skated in, made a quick move to slide the puck under Shesterkin’s pads, and scored at 19:27 of the first period.

Islanders scored on the power play

Late in the second period, the Islanders were on the power play and took advantage. Mathew Barzel at the near boards with a pass to the top of the far faceoff circle to Horvat. Then a pass down low to Drouin in front of the net was covered, but a quick backward pass to Horvat, and he scored from inside the far faceoff circle at 18:42 of the second period.

Empty Net and another one

The majority of the third period was another skating around in defeat, as the Rangers, while trying to create some goal-scoring chances, weren’t as high-octane as the previous two periods. Mike Sullivan pulled Shesterkin for the extra man. The Rangers still couldn’t solve Ilya Sorokin to get on the board.

Pageau scored the empty net goal at 17:59 of the third period, then, with Shesterkin back in the net, Anders Lee slipped one in at 19:50 of the third period to add insult to injury, as the Islanders got the win at Madison Square Garden.

A tale of two rinks

The Rangers have a 7-1-1 record on the road, while at Madison Square Garden, they are winless in their first seven home games, losing six and an overtime loss. In five of their seven games at home, the Rangers have been shut out. How this continues is just mindboggling, and now the question should be asked. Is this a mental block, and how can they break out of this predicament?

“You know, the first 10 or 12 minutes we were playing on our toes, playing the game that we wanted to play. You know, I think. After that, you know, we mismanaged the puck. We, you know, for me tonight, we beat ourselves. You know, this is one of the better teams at generating chances off the rush. We talked about it before the game.

The most important aspect of that is managing the puck, making him play goal line to goal line, not three-quarters of the rink. And we did none of the above. You know, I thought. You know, just ill-advised pinches or didn’t manage the puck, or if our D was active down the wall and a forward replaces, he doesn’t stay out, doesn’t replace.

We give him three two-on-one goals. We give him a two-on-one goal with 30 seconds left. It’s just, it’s inexplicable to me. But tonight’s a very different story than some of the other games that have been played here. For me, we beat ourselves tonight. You know, give the Islanders credit. They played hard, and they played a solid game, but we beat ourselves in a lot of ways,” said Mike Sullivan

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