Rangers stumble against Islanders in season opener
Jean-Gabriel Pageau, right, celebrates a first period goal by Brock Nelson against Igor Shesterkin of the Rangers at Madison Square Garden on Thursday. Credit: Getty Images/Bruce Bennett
In a 56-game season in which every game is within the division and only four of eight teams in each division reach the playoffs, the race to the postseason for the teams in the NHL’s Eastern Division will be a flat-out sprint, and a bad start can kill you.
The Rangers stumbled out of the starting blocks Thursday. They allowed three first-period goals and lost to the Islanders, 4-0, in their first game at the Garden in 10 months.
For a team nearing the end of its three-year-old rebuild, one that has aspirations of making the playoffs this season, it was a harsh reminder of how difficult the task will be.
"We didn’t play fast enough or use our speed to our advantage,’’ coach David Quinn said. "They did a really good job in a lot of areas, and we certainly weren’t good in many, if any at all. We’ve got to be quick learners.’’
The teams will face each other again Saturday at the Garden.
The game featured the NHL debuts of No. 1 overall draft pick Alexis Lafreniere and defenseman K’Andre Miller, the 2018 first-round pick who impressed Quinn so much in the Rangers’ 10-day training camp. Both rookies played well, though they had some bumps early on.
Miller committed a turnover just outside the blue line early in the game and then fell, leading to a scoring chance. A few seconds later, he was the lone defender back on the two-on-one in which Anders Lee scored.
Lafreniere, 19, made several nifty plays while playing mostly on a third line with center Filip Chytil and right wing Julien Gauthier. Lafreniere did cause the Rangers to be called for too many men on the ice at 14:23 of the first period, when he played the puck as he was going to the bench for a line change.
"After a couple of shifts, I felt better and I tried to work as hard as I can,’’ Lafreniere said. "Obviously a tough first game, and we’ll get better and work on our game and we’ll try to bounce back on Saturday.’’
The Rangers’ penalty kill, which had been a concern of Quinn’s entering the season, allowed two goals in the first 40 minutes, which put the team in a deep hole. The man-down unit ended up killing six of the Islanders’ eight power plays, but the Rangers’ power play went 0-for-3.
Newcomer Jack Johnson took the first penalty of the season for the Rangers, a holding-the-stick infraction at 1:48 of the first period. When Adam Fox blocked a shot by the Isles’ Anthony Beauvillier, the puck went right to Brock Nelson in the slot, and he banged it in at 2:33 for the game’s first goal.
A little more than a minute later, at 3:52, Lee beat Rangers goaltender Igor Shesterkin over the glove hand on a two-on-one break to make it 2-0. A turnover by Johnson in the neutral zone led to a goal by Mathew Barzal that made it 3-0 at 13:31.
Shesterkin (29 saves) became the first goalie other than Henrik Lundqvist to start a season opener for the Rangers since 2005, when Kevin Weekes did it. He wasn’t especially sharp early, though he seemed to get better in the latter two periods.
"The first goal was unfortunate,’’ Quinn said. "I thought we were doing a decent job killing the penalty and it hit Foxy in the skate when he went to block it. And it went right to [Nelson] and he put it in. We know Shesty’s a real good goalie. He’ll get another crack at them at some point down the line.’’
Colin Stephenson covers the Rangers for Newsday. He has spent more than two decades covering the NHL and just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
