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The Rangers literally reversed the script.
After being blown away in their season opener two nights earlier against the Islanders, the Rangers turned around and returned their game right away, setting up their own 5-0 shutout against Barry Trotz. and company at Madison Square Garden on Saturday night.
The Rangers – after a 4-0 loss in which head coach David Quinn questioned their efforts – have finally come forward for the 2020-21 season. Even with their second-highest-paid defenseman Tony DeAngelo in formal attire due to an unruly unsportsmanlike conduct penalty in Game 1, the Rangers looked like the squad that had the coaching staff gushing over their backs. concentration at training camp.
The effort was there. The smart passes were there. The Rangers were there.
Behind two goals apiece from Pavel Buchnevich and Artemi Panarin, Rangers 1-1 got the boost they needed from their header. Alexandar Georgiev recorded his fifth shutout of his career, totaling 23 saves in the win.
The Islanders had a good omen their night was not going to be good when starting goaltender Semyon Varlamov took a puck to the throat during warm-ups and had to leave the ice, throwing Russian prodigy Ilya Sorokin in his debut in the NHL without warning.
The Rangers racked up the shots early, taking a 2-0 lead in the first period. Mika Zibanejad opened the scoring by stealing the puck from Islanders defenseman Noah Dobson, he found Buchnevich in the 2-1 race at 2:12.
The Islanders’ defense took a hit soon after when Ryan Pulock soaked up a Jacob Trouba shot to the side of the header and immediately headed for the locker room. But Pulock returned early in the second period.
Brendan Smith then intercepted a pass and hit a streak for Panarin, who shot Sorokin down the right side to give the Rangers a 2-0 lead, at 13:46, and effectively placing their three-goal break in the first period in Thursday’s defeat behind them. .
In the second period, the Islanders were hit with several penalties, including two on Mathew Barzal. After Scott Mayfield got tangled up with a linesman, Buchnevich picked up the puck and snatched a right angle shot from the left point to make it a 3-0 game at the start of the second.
Line Phillip Di Giuseppe-Filip Chytil-Kaapo Kakko then forced a turn-over later in the period, Kakko finished it on a clock at 15:24 of a second.
The Islanders played better in the third period, keeping time in the Rangers’ zone and ringing two shots from the post in the final two minutes, but the Rangers were dominant throughout.
After Ross Johnston was penalized for fighting Ryan Lindgren and Trouba, Panarin cleaned up the trash on the power play to top the score.
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