Rangers Slap Down & Bully Islanders Again, Win 9-2

ELMONT, N.Y. — Sometimes, you’ve seen a game before. For the fourth time this season, the New York Rangers (37-35-7) beat, battered, and humiliated the New York Islanders (34-33-11) 9-2 in UBS Arena. The aggregate score in the season series finishes 23-5.

It’s the first time the Rangers have swept the season series since 2004-05.

Embarrassing No-Show:

What more is there to say? The loss does not technically eliminate the Islanders, but as soon as the Montreal Canadiens collect one more point, it becomes official. After blowing a late 6-4 lead to the 30th-placed Nashville Predators, the Islanders came out and showed absolutely no will to play the game of hockey.

24 hours ago, the Rangers allowed the Philadelphia Flyers to run buck wild all over them in an 8-5 Philly win. Tonight, the Rangers led 4-0 after the first period. Ryan Pulock had another brutal game against the Rangers, dropping him to -8 against the Blueshirts this year. Marcus Hogberg continued his downward spiral since he suffered his injury before the 4 Nation’s Face-Off.

For a span of 24:04, the Islanders were outscored 7-0 by the opposition. Three from Nashville to come back and win, then four from the Rangers in the first period tonight.

Hogberg allowed six goals on 27 shots before getting yanked. Then Tristan Lennox entered, allowed one goal on two shots, and Patrick Roy pulled him to re-insert Hogberg. He allowed another goal after another poor defensive effort.

Igor Shesterkin made an impressive 43 saves in the win.

How it Happened:

Specifically, I could tell you about every single defensive breakdown. From Ryan Pulock’s inability to pick up a man on a rebound to a non-existent backcheck, to Alexander Romanov’s poor attempt at breaking up a play leading directly to a 2-on-1 which produced the 4-0 goal.

It’s the story of the rivalry this year. A nail and a hammer. The Rangers scored at will while the Islanders floundered. The Rangers are 33-35-7 against everyone else. If you didn’t know that, you’d think this is the team that went to the Eastern Conference Final two of the last three seasons.

I hit on it above, but man, Ryan Pulock and Adam Pelech could not have had a more atrocious start. The Rangers went up 3-0 and they were out there for all three goals. One was a power play goal and two came off of terrible rush defense. Coach Patrick Roy seemed to bench Alexander Romanov for a spell in the second period, but it really could’ve and maybe should’ve been Pulock and/or Pelech.

Pelech then had an egregious turnover inside the Rangers’ blue line leading to a 2-on-1 for the Rangers that made it 8-2. Just an awful, no good, very bad night for the veteran blueliners.

The third period played like two teams playing out the string. Eventually, Matt Rempe humiliated the defenders on the ice. He hit a spin-o-rama backhand pass to Brett Berard who sent a backhand past Hogberg. At that point, Roy pulled Hogberg for Tristan Lennox to make his NHL debut with 12:06 to go. Hudson Fasching then scored his first of the year.

Then, Brett Berard scored his second of the game. At which point, Roy pulled Lennox. He played less than six minutes and allowed one goal on two shots. Hogberg came back in and finished the game. Artemi Panarin then scored from below the goalline with under 70 seconds left His final stat line finished allowing 8 goals on 30 shots.

More on Hogberg/Lennox:

Marcus Hogberg has fully eroded the trust he built earlier in the year. He struggled at the end of the game against Nashville, and Roy put him on blast after a 6-4 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes. Tonight, he just looked overmatched. With a total non-option in Tristan Lennox (who played last night in the AHL), Hogberg stayed until he allowed a sixth goal.

The worst goal he allowed likely was Juuso Parssinen’s wraparound that just leaked through his five-hole. Not good enough. It made for a real feel-good story for Lennox to make his NHL debut after all the struggles he’s gone through in his development.

Lennox became the fifth goalie the Islanders have used this season (Sorokin, Varlamov, Hogberg, Skarek). That’s the most they’ve used since the 2011-12 season when the team also used five. They were: Rick DiPietro, Kevin Poulin, Evgeni Nabokov, Al Montoya, and Anders Nilsson.

Takeaways on the Forwards:

In terms of the forward group, nobody came to play in the first period. They didn’t backcheck hard and looked almost indifferent during the first 20. Matt Martin and Marc Gatcomb laid some nice hits, including Gatcomb dropping Matt Rempe to the ice.

In the second period, the Islanders showed some pride. Despite Parssinen’s wraparound, they outshot the Rangers 20-6.  Maxim Tsyplakov scored one of the saddest power play goals ever late in the period. Roy didn’t even put a unit out there. Pelech and Pulock were out there with Tsyplakov, Simon Holmstrom, and Jean-Gabirel Pageau.

The goal was Tsyplakov’s 10th of the season. Additionally, Holmstrom extended his point streak to four games with the primary assist on Tsyplakov’s goal.

Hudson Fasching works hard and plays a solid game. He’s battled multiple injuries but could not buy a goal. He finally broke through with a hard shot off a Casey Cizikas rebound. It provided the only good moment of the night for the Islanders.