The Rangers opened their six-game preseason schedule with a 1-0 win over the Islanders. In a penalty-filled game, which prevented any sort of flow from developing, Neal Pionk made as good as of a first impression as possible by using a spin-o-rama to get past Brock Nelson at the top of the zone and then beat Eamon McAdam glove side in overtime for the game-winner. Several of the kids looked good while a few of the veterans in the hot seat saw their temperature under their feet rise a bit under their feet.

The league made a point before the games to indicate that the officials would be calling it closer. With 18 in total, including nine via the slash, that certainly was the case. I would rather have the league crack down now and early in the season to send a message and hope that the players learn from it, rather than allow a lot of the garbage we as last season. But the league has to be consistent in calling it and not slack off once the year has started or moved into 2018.

Lineup :

Projected #NYR lines for tonight pic.twitter.com/0XPUIaRCD4

— New York Rangers (@NYRangers) September 18, 2017

Here is the game-winner from Pionk :



It's hard to garner a lot from one game, especially seeing all the penalties, but a few items stood out. As said above, the kids are alright while a few of the veterans didn't put forth a good first effort. The next game is Wednesday against New Jersey and it will be interesting to see who is in the lineup for a second straight game.

Lias Andersson - solid in his own zone. Good awareness on the ice, forecheck and cycling. One shot in 16:10 of ice time. AV said after the game: "I thought he had some real good moments. His decision making on the ice when he's looking to make plays with the puck. Chipping when the opportunity is there with some bite."

Gabriel Fontaine and Vinni Lettieri - each showed they could be bottom-six forwards. Liked the bite both showed. Fontaine was good in Traverse City and carried it forward to the first preseason game. The same can be said about Boo Nieves, who didn't hurt his chances for a bottom six role

Anthony D'Angelo - displayed his puck moving and offensive skills. For the most part, solid defensively in his own zone. But what stood out was his offensive skills

Pionk - beyond the game-winner, he had a strong overall game. Defensively, he didn't looked out of place, and offensively, he had the game-winner as well as other nice plays as well.

Ondrej Pavelec - didn't have a ton of action, facelung just 10 shots in 40 minutes in his Rangers exhibition debut. But he stopped all of them, sending him forward with a positive feeling.

Nick Holden - one half of the new gold dust twins. Holden came into the game challenged and called out by AV. He ended the contest in a worse position, as he struggled. Again, it's one game and you can't draw that much from it, but Holden is looking up at others on the roster. How that's handled given salaries and contracts, way more so Marc Staal than Holden, as he too is under the gun is unknown, but let's see if AV carries forward on his preseason remarks regarding each of them. Staal may get his chance Wednesday to show he belongs in the lineup.

As a reminder, I am out of the box beginning Wednesday until Saturday night for Rosh Hashana and then the Sabbath. Back late Saturday night. As a heads up, this pattern will repeat itself to a certain extent the next few weeks.