Maybe this is exactly what the Rangers needed, a hard push in an environment where they didn’t have an option but to push back.
It was Rangers-Islanders in the Coliseum, and by the end of the Blueshirts’ 3-2 win Tuesday night, it seemed the whole place was a frothy mess.
“There was a lot of atmosphere in the stands, and there was a lot of atmosphere on the ice,” said Rangers coach Alain Vigneault, his first taste of this rivalry in front of an announced crowd of 16,170, the first home sellout of the Islanders season. “Just what I expected.”
The same can probably be said about Vigneault’s club, as well, which has fallen substantially short of expectations early in the season, yet finally managed to put together a complete game.
Coming of Monday night’s disheartening 2-0 loss to the Canadiens — the Rangers home-opener at the revamped Garden, no less, after a season-opening, nine-game road trip — this was a game in which both teams knew the intensity was going to be ratcheted up.
The Rangers (4-7-0) got the best of it, as Benoit Pouliot scored the game-winning goal with 6:12 remaining in the third period, a rising wrist shot from the high slot which buried the Islanders (4-5-3) and perpetuated their own defensive funk.
“It feels great, man, I don’t know what to say,” Pouliot said with a gargantuan smile, drawing a laugh as this was the belated follow-up to his best performance as a Ranger on Saturday in Detroit, when he scored a goal and made a desperate diving play to set up the overtime winner. “It’s good for everyone. After [Monday night’s] loss, we came in here ready to play, and I think that’s what we did.”
The Rangers came into the game as the worst offensive team in the league, averaging just 1.50 goals per game. It seemed all hard luck; good saves and wide posts living in the psyches of all those forwards with all those zeros in the goal column next to their names on the stat sheet.
So it was with great enthusiasm that Chris Kreider turned and celebrated the game-opening tally, his first of the season, a spin-around sweep-in that beat Evgeni Nabokov from in front of the net on a power play, 12:30 into the first.
“It’s nice to know that we’ve beaten him at least once,” said Kreider, who was an absolute force with his speed and power for the fourth straight game since being recalled from AHL Hartford. “When you execute on something you’ve talked about and worked on, it’s that much more rewarding.”
The Islanders were not about to go quietly, especially not in their barn of a building, no matter how many of the patrons were in the Rangers red, white and blue. Cal Clutterbuck tied the game early in the second with his first as an Islander, and with under a minute left in the period, a fluttering puck hit Isles forward Peter Regin in the face and got behind Rangers backup goalie Cam Talbot for a 2-1 advantage.
“I don’t think too much went wrong,” said Islanders center John Tavares, whose line with new addition Thomas Vanek was held in check by the Rangers shutdown defensive pair of Dan Girardi and Ryan McDonagh. “Just a couple mistakes, and when we got our chances, we didn’t finish enough. Not a lot of difference, but that’s what these games are like.”
McDonagh tied the game, 2-2, early in the third, when his seeing-eye power-play slap shot took advantage of an awful too-many-men-on-the-ice penalty, one that enraged Isles coach Jack Capuano.
It set the table for Pouliot’s game-winner, and set the table for the Rangers to now start moving forward.
“This is a very intense building every time we play here,” McDonagh said. “It’s a game that’s always hard fought, and you always want to come out on top.”