The New York Rangers took on the Islanders and Devils in their first 3 games to start their 56 game campaign. There were definitely things people liked in those 3 games and some things that the Rangers and the fans don’t want to see a lot of this upcoming season. Let’s analyze the three games.
In Game 1 the Rangers took a total of 8 penalties and the Islanders converted on 2 of them. Taking that many penalties in a game will put you in the loss column in any game, no matter what team you are playing at this level.
We also saw a lot of 2-on-1s in the game including the chance that led to Anders Lee of the Islanders sneaking one past Igor Shesterkin, who only allowed 1/10 in those situations last season.
Head Coach David Quinn had some things to say about the effort that was given against the Islanders. “We didn’t use our skating to our advantage. Every time we get a puck, we sort of look to see who we can pass it to on the other side of the ice. That approach doesn’t work against anybody, let alone the Islanders.”
In Game 2, things changed a lot after the Rangers were “alerted” to their effort last game. They looked much faster in their second game against the Islanders as their forecheck was there and they were drawing penalties. They had a total of 8 power plays but converted on just 1.
Alexander Georgiev recorded his first shutout of the season and is now 6-2 in his career against the Islanders. He was 4-1 last season against New York.
In Game 3, Rangers took a tough 4-3 loss vs the Devils after registering 50 shots on goal. Rangers didn’t play well in front of their net. They couldn’t capitalize on big scoring chances. Rough bounces led to a tough pill for the team to swallow against their rival.
The Rangers also couldn’t capitalize on the powerplay in this one, despite goals from Chris Kreider and Mika Zibanejed. Additionally, Filip Chytil scored his first of the season while Adam Fox and Artemi Panrin recorded two assists.
Photo by Mark Blinch/NHLI via Getty Images
