Rangers at Islanders Feb 2, 2006
Not a fun game overall for the Islanders last night. They showed up for about 15 minutes, maybe 20. 5-10 in the first, about 10 in the third. The Rangers showed up for the entire game. You can’t blame the entire Islanders roster, but it came pretty close.
The moment after the Rangers scored the first power play goal the Islanders looked like a team that was losing 4-0 (which would happen later).
The Eric Godard-Colton Orr fight was a great live scrap. Looked pretty even from my seat and didn’t look much different on tv. They had 2-3 more shifts with each other later in the game. Godard wanted to go again the first time they were on the ice together post-fight, but the Rangers were already up 2-0 and despite a large number of Rangers fans, it’s still an away game. With the amount of time Orr’s seen away from the press box he probably did the right thing by not dropping the gloves again and possibly giving the Islanders (and Islanders fans) some life back (that wouldn’t happen again until the middle of the third). After they had a chat Orr skated to the bench and Godard went to line up again (the Islanders either iced the puck and couldn’t change or they simply didn’t change lines, can’t recall), but Rob Shick skated with Godard having a few words with him. I can’t speculate as to what was said, but you have to assume some of the words might have been along the lines of an instigator warning. Godard was throwing the body around, landed a couple of nice checks. Him and Orr didn’t really look to meet up again though.
Islanders player of the game: Trent Hunter. He was checking anything he could and didn’t let Darius Kasparaitis get away with anything. Honorable mention: Arron Asham. Another player hitting hard and wearing his heart on his sleeve. There’s little heart on this team that’s visible on the ice (I won’t make assumptions about the lockerroom), and both these guys look like leaders. It’s a shame they couldn’t plug in some goals. The Islanders seemed to take more wide shots in the first period alone than I’ve seen all season long.
Rangers non-Jagr player of the game: Martin Straka. He was visible, had a couple of assists and had Rick Dipietro’s number on a penalty shot. Honorable mention: Tom Poti. His pass to Steve Rucchin for the Rangers second goal on the power play was so perfect he should have gotten credited for the goal.
Joel Bouchard, in his fourth game of the season, led the Islanders in minutes with 24:56. I’m stumped. Every time the puck left the Rangers’ zone the man on the point seemed to be Bouchard.
The Islanders were pressing at one point and Michal Rozsival blocked a big shot and went down stopping play and shortly getting up after, not really missing a beat (he was his team’s TOI leader). Is it just me, or does this happen with him a good amount? Rozsival’s a good shot blocker - which basically means he’s a willing shot blocker.
Making a trip out to the Island for a game like this is disappointing at best. Besides the cost, the time involved makes you wonder why you invest so much to see a team outworked so badly.
The Islanders did something right by honoring some local military servicemen (and women) who were home on a brief leave from Iraq. There’s actually no mention of it in the papers or on the Islanders website. Chants of U-S-A filled the Coliseum, one of the few times you’ll hear Islanders and Rangers fans cheering in unison. Irony reared its head later, when Rangers fans took Dipietro, possible Team USA goaltender, to task for letting in a couple of soft goals.
Comments:
Next entry: Good Officiating
Previous entry: No Super Bowl Critics This Year