Rangers v. Islanders Live Blogging

I'll be here to keep those of you who are reading updated on the Rangers/Islanders game. Here is the lineup for the Rangers:

Hossa - Drury - Jagr
Straka - Gomez - Shannahan
Prucha - Betts - Callahan
Hollweg - Dubinski - Orr

Rozsival - Malik
Tyutin - Girardi
Strudwick - Staal

Lundqvist

I'll check in on this post every few minutes. Enjoy the game.


7:15 - 3 minutes in and Ryan Hollweg takes a dumb penalty for tripping away from the play. He can't do things like that and expect not to be scrutinized every now and then.

7:24 - Andy Sutton took a 2 minute holding penalty 6:45 in that the Islanders killed off. Lundqvist has been great so far, staving off 5 Islanders shots so far. One shot on goal on the PP for the Rangers, 2 total. Meanwhile, there are scrums after the whistle starting.

7:35 - Callahan and Fedotanko just took coincidental roughing minors. Drury has hit a post or crossbar, and Callahan had a good strip and shot before, but the Islanders controlled the beginning of this game. Rangers look to be waking up now.

7:38 - I don't know how he did it but DiPietro just stopped Shannahan, a Betts rebound, and Shannahan again. That's the pressure the Rangers need. Marc-Andre Fleury looks a little flat on defense right now. He was stripped by Callahan and just kind of stood there just now.

7:45 - Huge hit by Petr Prucha. Yup, Petr Prucha. It led to sustained pressure by the Rangers and that led to Berard hooking Callahan to the ice. Somehow the officials thought that Callahan embelished it, and gave him 2 for diving as well. I'm not a fan of the penalty and diving call. If it's a dive, there shouldn't be a penalty on the other guy. This might be a different case though, as it was clearly a hook.

7:50 - Tripping penalty to Witt, ridiculous holding the stick penalty to Shannahan after Sutton really hacked Shannahan's stick and hands, leads to a 3 on 3 and a goal off the draw by Marc-Andre Bergeron. 1-0 Islanders after one full period. Back after intermission.

8:10 - Different Rangers team came out for the second period. Great offensive pressure leads to a Fedor Tyutin wrist shot goal at 2 and a half minutes in. Marcel Hossa may have gotten away with a boarding penalty. There was no replay but on first look it looked borderline. DiPietro just made a great save on Gomez and then Straka missed the net on a separate rush. Good pressure.

8:25 - This might be the most balanced lineup I have seen the Rangers put on the ice in a really long time. All 4 lines are being rolled, and for the most part controlling the play. The top 2 lines just pinned the Islanders down for the last 2 minutes just cycling and shooting. Ryan Hollweg even showed a brief glimpse of the offensive ability that he has, attempting to beat the Islanders defense 1 on 1. DiPietro coming up big right now.

8:30 - Shannahan and Betts both took penalties, leading to a Bryan Berard 5 on 3 power play goal. 2-1 Islanders.

8:33 - Delay of game penalty to Lundqvist for "handling the puck in the restricted area." Forced the Rangers to kill off another 5 on 3.

8:42 - End of Period 2. 2-1 Islanders still. Good physical game so far. Should be a good third period.

9:06 - Kind of a slow start right now. Guerin just took a slashing penalty. Powerplay Rangers.

9:08 - Gervais goes for high sticking. 34 second 5 on 3 for the Rangers. Meanwhile, I still have no idea how Dan Girardi went undrafted. He continues to impress me.

9:12 - Whoa. A lot of action on the power play, but no goals. Shannahan teed up a few, Jagr took a few rips, Straka tried and Gomez had DiPietro down on the ice and couldn't get the puck up from the side of the net and wound up putting it off the side bar and into DiPietro on the ice. Power play is over, 12 minutes even left.

9:16 - Boarding penalty to Roszival. 5 on 3 again. Tough hit, very easily could have been 2 minutes to Guerin for roughing Rosy afterwards, but it was a warrented 2 minutes. A lot of 5 on 3's this game. Great save by Lundqvist.

9:21 - Rangers kill off the penalties and get a power play of their own when Guerin went for holding. Jagr came up short on a semi-breakaway, and then again off a great feed from Gomez.

9:37 - That's the game. 2-1 Islanders. As much as I don't like him, Brendon Witt did a great job shutting Jagr down. Dubinski is under utilized on the 4th line. He could add a little more than what Betts has been giving Callahan and Prucha. The defense was strong again, but I do kind of miss Mara on the point of the second power play unit. The way the defense is clicking though, I'd leave it alone. That's all for tonight. Thanks for reading.