Subscribe
Follow Us
The New York Rangers have slim playoff hopes at this point in the season. However, they have playoff hopes nonetheless. New York faced its intrastate rival New York Islanders on Thursday night. While both teams had little else but pride to play for, the Blueshirts claimed bragging rights in an emphatic way.
The Rangers dominated the Islanders on Thursday. 10 different players recorded multiple points on the night. In the end, the Blueshirts skated away with a 9-2 victory on Islanders' ice at UBS Arena in Long Island, New York.
Believe it or not, this is not the first sort of performance the Rangers have turned in. Prior to Thursday, New York had six other games in which 10 or more players recorded more than one point, according to NHL Public Relations. The last occurrence came in 1979 when 12 players recorded a multi-point game.
Article Continues Below
“I thought our response was good. We came out pretty hot. Getting off to a hot start in their building is always key here,” Rangers forward Vincent Trocheck said of the game, via NHL.com's Stefan Rosner. “… I think our transition game was good tonight. We played a little quicker, we created turnovers in the neutral zone, got it up and quick, and attacked off that. I think we got a lot of our offense off that.”
Two Rangers players recorded multiple-goal games. Veteran Artemi Panarin scored twice while adding an assist. Meanwhile, youngster Brett Berard also scored twice in the victory. Goalie Igor Shesterkin had a fantastic performance, as well. He made 45 saves in the win over the Islanders on Thursday night.
As mentioned, the Rangers have slim hopes of making the playoffs. But if a miracle is to happen, they need to string together wins. Performances like Thursday's show there is still a ton of talent here. It will certainly be interesting to see if they can pull off the miracle as the regular season nears an end.
