RANGERS SLUMP CONTINUES, BUT THEY DO GET A POINT 

  Game Summary                              NYI: J. Halak (W)  NYR: H. Lundqvist (OT)    Event Summary
Shootout Summary

–       THREE’S COMPANY – The Rangers recorded at least three goals in a game for the second consecutive contest, and the Blueshirts have tallied seven goals over the last two games. In addition, six different Rangers have registered a goal in the two games.

–       ON POINT – At least one Rangers defenseman registered an assist/point on each of the team’s three goals in regulation in tonight’s game, and four different Blueshirts defensemen recorded an assist/point in the contest (Kevin Shattenkirk, Marc Staal, Brendan Smith, and Ryan McDonagh).

–       SHOOTING GALLERY – The Blueshirts registered a season-high 41 shots on goal in tonight’s game, and 16 of 18 Rangers recorded at least one shot on goal. The Rangers have recorded 30 or more shots on goal in each of the last five games and in seven of eight games thus far in 2017-18.

–       POSITIVE CHARGE – Nine different Rangers posted a plus-one rating or better in tonight’s contest.

–       FULL HOUSE – Tonight’s game was the Rangers’ 279th consecutive sellout (232 regular season games, 47 playoff games over the span). The Blueshirts’ sellout streak dates back to November 3, 2011.

–       Brendan Smith tallied his first assist/point of the 2017-18 season, was credited with one takeaway and posted a plus-one rating in 18:54 of ice time in tonight’s contest. Smith was selected as the Third Star of tonight’s game.

–       Mats Zuccarello recorded a goal, tallied a goal in the shootout, led the Rangers with three takeaways, and registered four shots on goal. He has tallied a point in each of the last two games (one goal, one assist), and he is tied for the team lead in points in 2017-18 (seven; two goals, five assists). Zuccarello has recorded 20 shootout goals on 39 shootout attempts in his NHL career (51.3%), and he is the Rangers’ all-time leader in shootout goals.

–       David Desharnais registered a goal, won eight of 10 faceoffs (80.0%), recorded two shots on goal, and posted a plus-one rating. He has tallied a goal in each of the last two games, and he extended his point streak to three games (two goals, two assists over the span). Desharnais has posted a faceoff win percentage of 50.0% or better in seven of eight games in 2017-18, including a 60.0% faceoff win percentage or better in five different contests.

–       Kevin Hayes registered a goal, recorded four shots on goal, was credited with two blocked shots, and posted a plus-two rating. Hayes has tallied a goal/point in two of the last four games (two goals over the span), and he has registered both of his goals in 2017-18 against Metropolitan Division opponents.

–       Henrik Lundqvist made 35 saves, and stopped all 15 shots he faced in the third period and overtime, to help the Rangers earn a point in tonight’s game. Lundqvist has made at least 30 saves in two of his last three appearances, as well as in three of his last five appearances.

–       Kevin Shattenkirk tallied an assist, led all skaters with four blocked shots, and posted a plus-one rating while skating in a team-high 23:13 of ice time. Shattenkirk is tied for the team lead in assists (five) and points (seven) this season, and he has recorded a point in six of eight games thus far in 2017-18. In addition, Shattenkirk extended his point streak to three games (one goal, two assists over the span).

–       Marc Staal recorded an assist, was credited with two blocked shots and posted a plus-one rating in 22:42 of ice time. Staal has registered more assists (15) and points (20) against the Islanders than against any other opponent in his NHL career.

–       Ryan McDonagh tallied an assist, was credited with four hits, recorded three blocked shots, and registered two shots on goal in 23:09 of ice time. The Rangers captain has notched an assist/point in each of the last two games (two assists), and he ranks second among team defensemen in assists this season (three).

–       Jesper Fast recorded his first assist/point of the 2017-18 season, tied for the game-high with five hits, and posted a plus-one rating in 15:15 of ice time. Fast has registered 12 hits in three games thus far this season.

• Alain Vigneault, New York Rangers head coach

On the team’s strong third period…

“Well, I thought in the second and the third, we gave up that early goal and you’re down by two against a strong team like the Islanders…we buckled down. Our guys worked extremely hard and maybe our execution might not be perfect but the work ethic in that room and the commitment to try and play the right way is there. I’m a firm believer that if you prepare and work hard, things are going to fall into place. We battled back again tonight; it’s not the first time we’ve done that this year. We only got one point but we battled hard.”

On getting off to better starts…

“It’s a combination of us obviously playing better with the puck like we’ve mentioned a few times, and we’re going to continue. Obviously, it’s challenging mentally but our guys, I look at how they’re getting ready and the attention to detail that they’re trying to do on the ice and how they battled back again tonight…I can only be supportive and our whole coaching staff is the same way, and our players have got to stick with it. If they stick with it, the results are going to come.”

On the mentality in the locker room possibly going bad…

“That’s the challenge we face right now as a group, and the only way to get those bounces is to continue to play the right way and continue to work hard. That’s what we’re doing right now and you saw the third period – we spent close to ten minutes in the Islanders’ end, so we’ve got to bottle that up and get ready for the next game and bring that against Nashville.”                 

• Doug Weight, New York Islanders head coach 

On the overall performance of the night…

“It’s a good win. When you’re down you push, you take chances and start throwing pucks. You get things to the net and you get a little desperate. You can’t always blame your hockey club for hanging on for a win. It’s tough but we’ll work at some things tomorrow and talk about some things, but it was a big win.” 

On Barzal’s goal…

“You know when you’re a scorer it wears on you, certainly for his first goal, even if he had been playing well and doing some good things, it was important for him to get it. You could see it almost got him a little too light on his feet. He was flying around the next couple of shifts, I was a little worried about him. Making plays all over the place but it was good to see. He played a good game after that, it was a nice goal.”

• Brendan Smith, New York Rangers defenseman

On his disallowed goal…

“In my mind, I didn’t kick it with my right (skate). I directed it and tried to keep the puck in off the rebound. I definitely didn’t kick it, so that’s all I could tell you. I think the rule states if it’s directed (in) it’s still a good goal, but they might have saw something different. It’s just unfortunate there, but I think we did a good job of getting the (tying) goal (by Kevin Hayes).”

On the current run of play…

“I think some of the bounces aren’t going our way. And that’s life, that’s hockey and that’s sports. There are areas I thought we played well, and we have to build on those. Like anything, if you flip the coin how many times it goes heads, it’s going to come back tails. And we need it to come back in our favor, and it’s going to. If we just keep that process, it’s going to come our way and we’re going to build on it.

On what changed after the first two periods…

“We started tilting the ice. We made good plays with the puck and we were managing it, and then you start playing in the offensive zone and you put the wear and tear on them. I thought we did a good job of that. Our forwards were playing really well in the third. I noticed times in the first and the second we did that, but we didn’t hold that as long and it seemed like in the third that we were really building on it. Sometimes, like I was saying, maybe it was too little, too late.”

• Henrik Lundqvist, New York Rangers goaltender

On whether he allows himself any satisfaction in gaining a point tonight given the big saves he made …

“Yes and no. I think this game and last game we showed a lot of good things, the way we battled back.  Again, tough start.  We start the game on the PK and they get a goal right away.  It’s too many games now where we give up the first goal.  I have to be better; as a group, we have to be better.  Just really focus on the first 10 (minutes) to give us a chance to feel good about ourselves.  But still being down even 3-1, we stick to our system here and go out and play a really strong third.  It was close a couple times.  I think we had a couple breakaways where we had a chance to end this game and we didn’t.  It’s just that we are close.  I think we do a lot of good things.  Obviously, when we don’t get the wins it’s easy to get stuck on mistakes, the missed opportunities, or not coming up with that extra save.  But at the same time, we are doing a lot of good things as a group.  We just need that extra play right now, that’s the difference.  It’s one play away in the last couple games here to get two wins.  It’s frustrating. We keep saying it, but it is.  It’s really hard right now to try to get the wins coming and we need the points, we know that.”

On what was different about the team’s play in the third compared to the first two periods…

“We didn’t have time to wait around. There was a lot of desperation and determination in our forecheck, the way we were coming after them.  That was the intensity we need to play with.  It was great to see.  We left everything out there, especially in the third.  I think the determination showed a lot of good things about this group.  Like AV (Alain Vigneault) told the group we have two choices here – to feel sorry for ourselves or go out and really try to make the most of this situation.  We were close again to getting the win.  It’s a good thing the games are coming fast here.  We get another opportunity in a couple days to try to get that win.  But I liked the way we played, especially in the second half of this game.”

• Rick Nash, New York Rangers forward

On whether there is solace in emerging from tonight’s game with one point…

“I really thought it was a good third period.  We had to give it our all.  The second period didn’t really go our way.  We’ve got something to build on now and we’ve got to move forward.”

On how the team’s play in the third differed from the first two periods…

“The third period, we were simple.  We got on the forecheck, we handled the puck, we outworked them.  You know it’s simple Ranger hockey; the way we’ve always played the last five years I’ve been here.  We’ve gotten away from that in the first six or seven games here.”

On whether he looks at the positives in scoring opportunities or laments not converting…

“Sooner or later you have to convert.  It’s tough right now.  Goals come in bunches and you know when you’re in a drought it’s always tough.  Opportunities are there, have to keep taking the puck to the net and sooner or later it will start to go in.”

• John Tavares, New York Islanders forward

On scoring the first power play goal of the season …

“We made a couple of adjustments, some things we wanted to emphasize. It was a good job, nice to obviously get one and get that monkey off our back. Hopefully, it leads to some more good opportunities and some more results.”

On the third period …

“They obviously came hard, they really stretched the ice out. That meant they were coming hard for us in the forecheck and we weren’t getting out of our zone as well. But we also weren’t able to establish our forecheck with the way they were spreading the ice out. We have to do a little better job being quicker to pucks and executing and beating that pressure – creating our own, creating our odd-man rushes or odd-man opportunities in the forecheck to get pucks back and create offense. They found some momentum and some energy and brought a lot, but we did a good job, for the most part, to get it to overtime, get a point and find a way in the shootout.”

• Jaroslav Halak, New York Islanders goaltender

On facing the Rangers and Henrik Lundqvist …

“I’m not trying to pay attention to it. I’m just trying to focus on every game the same way. There are games that you play better in than the others. Maybe I do play better against the Rangers. Like I said, I’m not trying to pay too much attention to it.” 

On bouncing back in the shootout after the first goal …

“It was an unfortunate bounce – one of those where I tried to seal the post and it somehow went in. It looked like the puck hit the ice, and found a way. I think we didn’t panic, we stayed with it. We had chances at the end of the game, in overtime, that just didn’t go in. But I’m happy for the shootout win and we just need to build on it.”

–       Tomorrow (Fri, Oct. 20): Practice, 12:00 p.m. at MSG Training Center

–       Next Game: Sat, Oct. 21 vs. Nashville (12:30 p.m. ET – TV: MSG Network)

*Schedule subject to change

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