Two goals by the fourth line elevate the New York Rangers past the New York Islanders

 

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By Jordan Laroche

The New York Rangers went up against a different New York Islanders team that has seven players in COVID protocol. Leading scorer Josh Bailey, Anders Lee, and Ross Johnston and defensemen Adam Pelech and Andy Greene were all unable to play tonight due to an outbreak in the organization.

The game was a tight battle in the first period with each team registering eight shots on net, a usual scene for when the two rivals play.

However, it only took 30 seconds into the second period for Chris Krieder to score a, you guessed it, powerplay goal. This ties him with Leon Draisatl for the most powerplay goals this year with nine, he has also recorded nine of the 12 powerplay goals for the Rangers this season. The Rangers would score with just under five minutes to go in the second period as Kevin Rooney would put in Barclay Goodrow’s rebound on an odd-man rush.

The UBS Arena was quiet heading into the third period, but that quickly changed as recent callup Andy Andreoff deflected a shot from the point past Igor Shesterkin. Only 20 seconds later, Kevin Rooney would score his second of the game as Ryan Reaves showed some soft hands on a beautiful feed.

Chris Krieder scored his second of the game and 15^th of the year, tying him with Alex Ovechkin and Andrew Mangiapane for second in the NHL in goals. A late assist was given to Kaapo Kakko who is now on a 6 game point streak and has looked much more confident, as Ranger fan’s hopes and prays have been answered.

There is some worry for the Rangers as defenseman Ryan Lindgren took a hit to head from Jean-Gabriel Pageau sending him to the locker room. A rare sighting of Adam Fox being agitated after the hit went after Pageau, taking a penalty in the process. Lindgren returned to the bench before the end of the game.

More chaos ensued as the game went on with Alexis Lafreniere went after Pageau and Dryden Hunt tried dropping the gloves with Oliver Wahlstrom. A big criticism the Rangers had coming out of last season was the lack of grit, Gerard Gallant has changed the culture of this team and are much more aggressive in their game. This team looks like they could be a threat in the playoffs.

 

Box score:

1^st period:

No goals

2^nd period:

Chris Krieder (14) – Ryan Strome (10) Adam Fox (15)

Kevin Rooney (4) – Barclay Goodrow (6) Ryan Reaves (2)

3^rd Period:

Andy Andreoff (1) – Otto Koivula (1) Sebastian Aho (1)

Kevin Rooney (5) – Ryan Reaves (3)

Chris Krieder (15) – Mika Zibanejad (12) Kaapo Kakko (3)