The Blueshirts are able to bounce back in the best possible way.
The New York Rangers are coming off one of their worst opening night losses in franchise history. After a scoreless start to the season, head coach David Quinn decided to change up the lines in order to give the team some life.
Let’s look at their second of a back-to-back with the New York Islanders with GIFs.
1st period: From Russia with Love
The Rangers were quick to show that they had left their goalscoring woes behind them.
Mika Zibanejad was able to take the puck away and give it to Pavel Buchnevich, who put it past goalie Ilya Sorokin– who made his NHL debut in this game- for the Rangers’ first goal of the season.
Chris Kreider was booked for slashing Mathew Barzal 4:50 in. With 57 seconds left of the power play, Islanders captain Anders Lee tripped Ryan Lindgren, so the Rangers had a four-on-four and then another power play. They were unable to score.
The Rangers’ next goal of the game came after an Islanders’ scoring chance. Brendan Smith, who was in the lineup instead of Tony DeAngelo, got the rebound and made a beautiful pass to Artemi Panarin to put the Rangers up 2-0.
The Rangers were given an opportunity on the power play after Noah Dobson was penalized for a delay of game, but couldn’t score.
2nd period: BUUUUUUUUUUUUCH
The Rangers were given two back-to-back power play chances after Barzal committed two penalties but, again, came up short. The power play is already looking to be an area they really need to work on.
Buchnevich would go on to score once again after making a great play on Ross Johnston on the boards to take the puck and hustle to score his second of the game.
The famous “diaper line” finally put up a goal. A beautiful play by Filip Chytil along the boards allowed Phillip Di Giuseppe, who was in the lineup after Kevin Rooney was hurt on Thursday, to make a great pass to Kaapo Kakko for his first of the season.
This was a much-needed goal for the 19-year-old sophomore and is hopefully a sign of good things to come.
3rd period: Bread for two, please
The majority of this period was relatively uneventful, but the Rangers were able to add to their impressive goal total.
After Johnston was booked for roughing and misconduct, a beautiful tip pass by Adam Fox to Panarin allowed the Russian to get his second of the game.
Quinn took a risk by making so many changes to the lines, but it proved to be worthwhile. If the Rangers play like this all year, they’ll be unstoppable.
Key moment: Why their first goal, of course
The Rangers’ first goal of the night was the moment of the game. It was a momentum-shifter that the players built on. Buchnevich got the monkey off the entire team’s back by scoring that crucial goal.
Player of the game: Pavel Buchnevich
Buchnevich gets a second GIF after the game he played. Buchnevich, who’s an excellent two-way forward, was fantastic in his own zone and was also able to score two goals and record a secondary assist.
The Rangers had many standout players, but Buchnevich was the best from puck drop until the final buzzer.
