Rangers Fall Flat Against The Rival Isles Yet Again
So far, the season series between the upstart Isles & defending conference champion Rangers looks an awful lot like this:
Three games played, three decisive 3-goal victories for an Islanders team that simply isn’t going away. If not for a Hags garbage time goal with under ten ticks to go, it’d have been the second straight Halak goose egg. Jaro’s boys sure as hell didn’t look like a team missing their second leading scorer. Despite getting out-shot, the Isles were able to generate several top-quality scoring chances while Boychuk & Co. blocked shot after shot & kept the Blueshirts away from the middle. 40 saves are 40 saves – but a total team effort in front of Halak made most of his stops pretty easy.
So what does this mean for the Rangers? Not a whole lot. I’m not discrediting the Isles. If the script was flipped, I’d be running my mouth just as much as their fans – that’s what a rivalry is all about. And the fact that 6 of 14 NYR regulation losses have come against two squads at the top of the East (NYI & TB) by a 28-11 total with Hank in net sure casts a hint of doubt as to how they’ll fair in crunch time. At least for those on the outside looking in. Fans have seen what this team is capable of though. Whether you want to look at last year’s playoff run or winning games at an 80% clip over their last 20, the Blueshirts will be there when it matters most come April. Until the Islanders, Bolts or anyone else take 4 of 7 from them in the post-season, it’s still the Rangers conference to lose.
No time to dwell on their beat down out of the break. They gotta make up games in hand somehow, and that somehow equates to just 2 spots in the schedule with more than one day off through February. The Habs are up next tomorrow night to get the Blueshirts back in the win column. As for Isles fans, let them celebrate. January is their time. Remember, a lot of them are the same fans who were “rooting for New York” last year while the Rangers were playing for the Cup. They’ll be back soon enough.