The Rangers began the sprint of the 2020-21 season on Thursday night against the Islanders – and they already seem to have shin splints.
You know, that sharp pain along the tibia that increases when there is a sudden increase in physical activity and muscle overload. The Rangers must have felt that pain when they lost 4-0 at Madison Square Garden in their first of eight encounters with the Islanders this season.
The Rangers said they don’t want to be defined by their three abysmal defeats in the Toronto bubble last post-season, but they sure look a lot like the same team that was dominated, worked and maneuvered five months ago.
The Islanders, on the other hand, looked like a team that is ready to grow in its run for the conference finals last season.
There may have been only three rookies on the ice for Rangers, but the rookie mistakes extended throughout the lineup. Rangers found themselves at fault eight times, scoring three penalties in the first 20 minutes and losing 3-0 at the start.
This first game is a small sample of what’s to come for the Rangers. But if the first period was an indication of how this young team compares to the rest of the East, the sprint has become much more difficult.
Novice goalkeeper Igor Shesterkin scored four goals in 33 shots, one or two of which he would certainly like to return to in his first match on opening night. Semyon Varlamov scored his third shutout with an Islanders jersey and the 28th of his career, deflecting all 24 shots he faced.
The Rangers were after the puck crash after defender Jack Johnson, in his first game in a red and blue sweater, was called in to hold on to put the Islanders in the lead.
Brock Nelson kicked off the Islands, burying one of the slot machines at 2:33 for the Islanders’ first goal of the season.
A turn by K’Andre Miller left Shesterkin dry just over a minute later and Islanders captain Anders Lee converted it into a two-on-one run for a 2-0 score. Later, Mathew Barzal made it 3-0, after waltzing around Tony DeAngelo to hit Shesterkin over the top.
The rookie mistakes kept coming, while Alexis Lafreniere played the record while making a change and causing Rangers to be called upon by many men on the ice.
The Rangers tipped the ice in the second period and had plenty of time in the offensive zone, but their crowd-o-crease strategy failed each time. Lafreniere then committed his second penalty of the night, when he was called for hooking up at 2:13 pm, which led to Jordan Eberle’s power-play goal about 50 seconds later.