Rangers vs. Islanders: Rangers Embarrassed By Islanders 7-2 at MSG

The New York Rangers exited their buy week this afternoon and were greeted with a 7-2 shellacking courtesy of the New York Islanders. Henrik Lundqvist entered the game late in the second period in relief of Ondrej Pavelec, who allowed five goals on fourteen shots.

Early on in the first period, this game was as wide open as it could be with both teams trading chances at either end of the ice. While the Rangers were the ones with the better of the scoring chances, it would be the Islanders breaking the scoreless tie at the 6:06 mark. A defensive miscue in the high slot allowed Anthony Beauvillier a free pass to the net and he snapped a shot over the blocker of Pavelec.

The Rangers would answer right back nearly 12 minutes later with a power play goal coming from Kevin Hayes. Much like the Rangers’ first goal against, the Islanders left Kevin Hayes all alone in front, and Rick Nash fed a beautiful centering pass to create the goal. The 1-1 tie would be extremely short-lived, though, with Shane Price coming right back down the ice and restoring the Islanders one goal lead.

From that point on, the Rangers never seemed to recover and the Islanders completely dominated the remainder of the game. The Islanders were able to pile on three more goals in the second period, with Mathew Barzal tallying two and Beauvillier adding his second of the night.

Even though it was a little too late, the Rangers temporarily stopped the bleeding midway through the third with Mika Zibanejad redirecting home a shot on the power play. The Islanders found a way to add two more goals coming from Thomas Hickey and Cal Clutterbuck, and closed out the game with a 7-2 scoreline.

Following today’s embarrassing effort, the Rangers will have a chance to redeem themselves tomorrow night against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Hopefully it’s better than what we witnessed this afternoon.