The Rangers suffer a brutal loss, both on the scoreboard and on the ice as they miss out on an opportunity to grab two important points and lose Jacob Trouba to injury. Let's take it back to the start of the game, Stevie V mentioned in pregame how it's of the most significance for the Rangers to strike first. The Islanders are one of the best teams in the league when it comes to playing with a lead so preventing that from happening was crucial. Boy would that take age well..
The puck dropped and up until the Islanders goal closer to the end of the period, this was the most intense type of period the Rangers have probably played all season. Everything about the flow of the game screamed playoff hockey and for a while, the young Rangers were keeping up. Until of course Matt Martin took out Jacob Trouba. A lot of people thought the play was questionable, it very well could've been a charging penalty however there was a lot of time and space between Trouba grabbing the puck in the corner and Matt Martin, the forechecker getting to him. It also didn't help that just a few moments prior, Trouba laid a big hit on Martin.
I'm not justifying the retaliation but anytime someone gets hit in hockey the first thing they're doing is grabbing the number of the guy who delivered the hit. Matt Martin didn't throw a cheap shot, in fact after a couple strides he kind of glided through his forecheck before throwing the hit. Don't get me wrong, Trouba is one of my favorite players and him getting injured is literally the last thing this team needs but in an attempt to be unbiased, it was a clean hockey hit, Trouba just recovered awkwardly from it and very unfortunately got injured on the play. The Rangers ruled in an "Upper Body Injury" which unfortunately probably means what were all thinking... All we can do is hope for the best and hope Trouba is alright and isn't out too long.
Now as for the rest of this team... Not for nothing but if you didn't believe Jacob Trouba was an essential part of this franchise this was the game to prove you wrong. As soon as he went down it was a whole different game. You can tell just from watching this team his presence was going to be missed and it was. The Rangers held on and did all they could but with almost two minutes left in the period, JG Pageau got the puck over to Josh Bailey for his first goal in his first game back from injury. Very not ideal.
Going into intermission the Rangers had to clear their heads and go into the second with the mindset that it's a new game. In addition to that, they needed guys to step up in the absence of Trouba which for what it's worth, a couple guys did. Ryan Lindgren for starters who is always just a clutch presence on the ice seemed to have stepped his game up a little more than usual and played with a little more aggression. However the one who really stepped up to the plate and did everything he could to single handedly get the Rangers back in this game was the veteran, Brendan Smith.
I have absolutely nothing but good things to say about this man, talk about a class act guy and someone who understands their role and does everything they can to excel in it. Smith understood the direction this team was going to be taking and that meant some nights he would find himself in the press box. He understood and took on more of a leadership role to mentor the young guys on the team and day in and day out gives everything he has to play his best hockey. This game was no exception as he played hard, defended well and was the reason for Kevin Rooney's lone goal in this game.
Unfortunately, Smith's efforts would not be enough, Brock Nelson scored very early in the second and following up was Anthony Beauvillier to make it 3-0 on the power play. Six minutes after was when Brendan Smith's shot from the point deflected off Rooney's stick to get the Rangers on the board. To the third we go and much of the same continued. Almost eight minutes in it was JG Pageau scoring on a wrist shot to make it 4-1. A couple minutes later it was Josh Bailey for his second of the night and a minute after that it was Jordan Eberle and that's when my TV along with Rangers fans' everywhere got turned off.
A disappointing result in what were two much needed points. Now what went wrong? The obvious, Jacob Trouba getting hurt but there was more to it then just losing one of your leaders and top defensemen. With him hurt, we're down to five defensemen, the fifth being Anthony Bitetto. I mentioned the Rangers needed guys to step up to the plate following the injury and he was the make or break name in that equation. Not to mention, a chance for him to redeem himself from last game and to also prove he's an NHL defenseman. Nothing against the guy, I like him and he seems to be well liked in the locker room but he failed to meet the challenge and quite frankly, don't think he's going to have a night better than his goal against Washington.
That being said he's going to be a great guy to have in Hartford, we should absolutely see Zac Jones tomorrow and if Trouba is out, Hajek will likely return as well. Not to mention, why the wait on Jones? I understand wanting to get him in as many team skates as possible but the kid did just win a national championship.. We know what we have in this kid as far as talent and potential go, why not get him going? I would also like to take this time to suggest the Rangers keep Smith around for another year or two on a very cost friendly deal to be the 7th defender and or 14th forward. He wants to be in New York and it translates in his leadership, attitude and performance.
Nevertheless, we're back at it at the Garden against Philly tomorrow and the Rangers need these wins. Expect an NHL debut for Zac Jones and quite possibly more line up changes. Move Blackwell back to the fourth line, take Howden out for Gauthier or Di Giuseppe and put Kravtsov on the line with Panarin and Strome. Again, it'll be interesting to see how David Quinn handles the goaltending situation with another back to back coming up, especially as I am not really sure what the best strategy is. What I do know is we can't afford to lose anymore, forget about last night and move on.
Chris Feldman
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