The Rangers won their second straight, defeating their tunnel rivals, the Islanders, 5-1 on Monday. Most of the damage was done by the bottom six forwards and third pair blueliners. During the win, the Blueshirts lost K’Andre Miller and Adam Fox to injuries, the extent of both yet to determined. The Rangers face the Maole Leafs at home on Friday.
Game recap:
Lines versus the Islanders:
#NYR line rushes
Cuylle-Miller-Zibanejad
Panarin-Trocheck-Lafrenière
Vesey-Carrick-Smith
Othmann-Brodzinski-Rempe
Lindgren-Fox
Miller-Borgen
Vaakanainen-Schneider
Shesterkin
Quick
A few thoughts:
1) New York’s fourth line, which was Hartford’s first line at times, were major difference makers. That trio brought energy, physical play and a noticeable forecheck, tilting the ice in a positive direction throughout the contest. Brennan Othmann made his season debut, and much of the talk/complaints before the game was how he was being deployed incorrectly. The liens performance made that view moot.
As a contrast to how well the fourth line performed. Vince Mercogliano noted that the top-three lines were largely outplayed by the Isles, who combined to outshoot (21-12), out-attempt (49-30) and out-chance (22-13) those nine forwards. The fourth line played a heavy game, creating havoc down low while setting massive screens on Ilya Sorokin, who did a poor job of fighting to see over or around screens.
Jonny Brodzinski netted a pair. Matt Rempe, who has been very good the last few weeks, had a deflection goal. Othmann was all over in the offensive zone, retrieving pucks and being a pest. The other goal was scored by JT Miller - again - on a nice feed from Mika Zibanejad, who also had a short turn on defense while three bylines were out, to basically seal the win in the second stanza.
2) Braden Schneider and Urho Vaakainen both came up big. The latter registered a career-high three points (one goal and two assists) while the former returned after blocking a shot off his knee to help a depleted blue line. Schneider has raised his play a bit lately, showing a little what we saw after he was promoted a few years ago.
3) Miller and Fox. The Miller injury is unclear. He looked to have maybe tweaked something in his leg on his last shift. The bigger concern is Fox, who got tangled up with Kyle MacLean and landed on his left shoulder. If there is a silver lining, MacLean didn’t land with his weight on Fox. But Fox immediately left the ice and went to the locker room, raising concerns as to the extent of a possible injury.
If Fox is done for a while, the blueliner and playoff hopes take a major hit. Zac Jones, called backup after a two-game conditioning stint, is next in line. After that, it’s either Chad Ruhwedel, Connor Mackey or Matthew Robertson. Erik Brännström, who came over in the J.T. Miller trade, hasn't played since Feb. 16 due to injury. Any extended absence for Miller and/or Fox might make it more likely that Ryan Lindgren remains past the March 7 trade deadline.
K'Andre Miller:
This is K'Andre Miller last shift before leaving the game. I don't anything wrong, do you? #NYRpic.twitter.com/gjyaJkFpet
4) Lost in the win and injuries was the performance of Igor Shesterkin, who came up big in the second period, especially early when the Rangers were on their heels. New York opted for the rope-a-dope style of play, as they were outshot 37-18 and have been outshot 77-34 the last two games. Oddly enough, they have scored 10 times on those 34 shots, including an empty net marker. It’s not the way you would draw it up, but a win is a win is a win this time of year.
New York Rangers Blogger • 
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