Henrik Lundqvist is at the top of his game – and it’s the biggest reason why the Rangers stand alone atop the Metropolitan Division at 8-2-2. Braden Holtby had a night to forget, as he allowed 5 goals against the Rangers for the first time since Game 7 of the first round in the 2013 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Five different players scored for the Rangers, including a defenseman and a fourth-liner.
Advertisement
Martin Jones was lifted after stopping 17 of 21 shots through the first two periods. Through 10 games, all evidence suggests that “King Henrik” is on his way toward putting together another elite campaign between the pipes. On the first, Brooks Orpik had a giveaway behind the Caps net that led to Oscar Lindberg’s sixth of the season off a rebound. After a strong start to the season, November 3rd marked a game that the Capitals would’ve liked to use as a measuring stick for themselves at this point in the season.
Alex Ovechkin would get his revenge, however. He was seen wearing a sling in the hallway behind the dressing room and did not return for the third period.
ISLANDERS 2, DEVILS 1: Casey Cizikas scored the tiebreaking goal with 2:12 left in the third period to lift New York over New Jersey. Viktor Stalberg is questionable with a concussion. The Rangers would take a 2-1 lead into the first intermission.
As I mentioned earlier, the Rangers only amassed two shots in the 2nd period.
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) – A Northwestern State running back and a couple of Louisiana-Lafayette linebackers have earned Louisiana Sports Writers Association Player of the Week honors. The Rangers opened the scoring just 1:57 into the period, after killing off a penalty. This time Derick Brassard found Kevin Klein coming late to beat Holtby to make it 3-1. We probably spent at least seven or eight straight minutes, they were totally dominating us in our zone, cycling. The man just plays hard-nose hockey which gives the team a boost as well as the fans when the Rangers are home.
The onslaught continued five minutes later as Brassard capitalized on a turnover to make it 4-1. He attempted to slide the puck to left winger Rick Nash, but the puck bounced off Johansson and past Holtby at 6:59. All of these games are very winnable for the Rangers, and it’s a good chance to build on their division lead.
Johansson would get his retribution, though. In the video, you can hear Joe talk about how the Rangers coaches were telling the bench this lack of pressure was unacceptable. We weathered the storm in the second, got out in the third (and play a) pretty balanced period. This would not be the case tonight due to messy, misguided play as the score was one-sided with the Rangers winning 5-2 over the Caps ending the Caps undefeated road record this season.
The 33-year-old netminder was at his steely best in Tuesday’s 5-2 victory over the Washington Capitals, making 32 saves in a standout performance. “And I think it took us a few games previous year to adjust to it, too”. Instead, New York wasted Holtby and the Capitals on Stepan’s magical Game 7 overtime goal that had Doc Emrick providing us with the best kind of goal-call to fit the occasion.
Advertisement
They’re also contributing more offensively.
