The Rangers have been playing well, there’s no refuting that. Winning nine of their previous ten going into last night’s game against the Islanders, it looked like the Blueshirts could halt the Isles’ dominance. But they couldn’t.
Rick DiPietro again stymied the Rangers, at times acting as a one-man penalty killing unit with his long clears from behind the goal line. Having faced only 19 shots, though, the home team didn’t challenge him as much as they should have.
Henrik Lundqvist faced 24 shots, and let Ruslan Fedotenko’s shot through the wickets after Marcel Hossa left his man unmarked on the opening draw of the second period. Both Hossa and Lundqvist want that one back; it had all the hallmarks of a soft goal. Sloppy defense and a wide-angle shot through the five hole. Josef Vasicek’s game winner nearly six minutes later was a good individual effort that he placed perfectly in the long side top corner. Marcel Hossa again factored in that goal. Having lost his glove on the play, he suffered a slash on his exposed hand that allowed Vasicek to speed past him. Despite a hook from Hossa on the Islander’s hands, Vasicek had no trouble burying the shot.
Less than a minute later, Michal Roszival brought it to within one with his second short-handed goal in two games and, during a rush by Brandon Dubinsky and Nigel Dawes, it looked as though the Rangers would tie it — but DiPietro came up with the initial save. Dubinsky’s rebound attempt fluttered wide and with it the Rangers best chance of salvaging the night.
In their last 11 games, the Rangers have lost only twice — each time to the Islanders. They still stand atop the Atlantic Division, but the Isles are three points behind with four games in hand. The stage has certainly been set for one of the most pointed seasonal rivalries in recent memory, and the Isles are making themselves a perpetual thorn in the Rangers’ side.
The Rangers head to Tampa to take on the Lightning, who had won five before losing last night in OT to Atlanta. No doubt both teams will be looking to right what went wrong on Monday and it should make for a good contest.