The New York Rangers' arch-rivals, the New York islanders, paid a visit to Madison Square Garden this evening. The first of a home-and-home series, the Rangers are attempting to solidify a playoff berth while the hated Islanders, on the outside looking in, are desperately seeking points any way they can get them. The Rangers are coming off a 5-4 shootout win over the Flyers on Sunday, while the hapless Islanders are coming off a 53-shot, 1-0 loss to the Florida Panthers. The Isles set a new record in futility; it was the most shots (53) by a losing team while being shutout since the NHL made shots on goal an offical stat in 1955. (Elias Sports Bureau) Starting Isles goalie Rick DiPietro was unable to start tonight's game due to the death of his grandmother; Wade Dubielewicz started for the Islanders in his place.

With a loud buzzing crowd roaring in anticipation, the Rangers took it to the Islanders in the first half of period one. The line of Jagr, Avery and Dubinsky spent an eternity in the Isle zone, but Dubielewicz and the crossbar behind him was able to stop everything the Blueshirts threw at him. Withstanding the Rangers pressure, the Isles began counter-attacking and actually had more quality scoring chances than the Rangers were able to muster. Henrik Lundquist came up with a big stop on Richard Park, who recieved a perfect feed from the right corner while he was parked in front of the Ranger net. Blake Comeau finally broke the scoreless tie at 18:43 of the 1st; his attempted pass to the slot from behind the net bounced off Michal Rozsival's skate and slithered past Lundquist to give the Isles a 1-0 lead.

In the 2nd period the Rangers struck quickly, scoring a power play goal at 2:29, as Scott Gomez skated around the back of the net and put a short pass on the stick of Nigel Dawes, who merely had to tap it home. 41 seconds later, while Dawes name was still being announced (I hate that), the Isles sruck back, with Bergenheim getting one past a screened Lundquist. Exactly two minutes later, Ruslan Fedotenko had his shot from a bad angle deflected by Trent Hunter to give the visitors a 3-1 lead. Chris Drury, who always seems to come up with a big goal when the Rangers need it, got his slap shot past a screened Dubielewicz at 7:14 of the 2nd to close the gap to 3-2. Brendan Shanahan had a glorious scoring opportunity on a breakaway later in the 2nd, but Dubielewicz stopped the initial shot, then denied the follow-up stuff-in attempt by Shanahan. The 2nd ended with the Rangers trailing 3-2 but with a decided territorial advantage in the game.

At 5:31 of the 3rd, Jaromir Jagr was called for hooking, his 2nd such call of the night. It's really amazing to see what opposing defenseman get away with against him, yet he gets called for every ticky-tack play. I'm not saying what he got called for tonight weren't penalties, they were; I'm saying that not only does he no longer get the benefit of the doubt from NHL referees, they also turn a willful blind eye to what defenders typically do to him, while making sure they miss nothing he might be guilty of. Sour grapes? Sure. It's also a fact.

While the Rangers were killing off the ensuing Islander power play, Ryan Callahan drove hard to the net with Islander winger Ruslan Fedotenko draped all over him, picked up the juicy rebound off a Scott Gomez shot and poked home a huge shorthanded goal with Dan Girardi picking up an assist on the play. The Rangers killed off the remainder of the penalty and picked up the offensive play from that point through the end of the 3rd. The Islanders, playing their 3rd game in 4 nights, seemed to be content to clog up the neutral zone and keep the Rangers to the outside for the remainder of the 3rd period and the 5 minute OT. After all, this strategy worked great in the previous 2 periods, as evidenced by the Rangers making too many boneheaded passes. The Blueshirts had a few golden scoring chances late in the 3rd, but Dubielewicz stopped all of them. The Jagr line was flying all night; how they were held scoreless on the evening is a testament to how well and to extent, how lucky (posts/crossbars hit, shots blocked/deflected) Dubielewicz was for the Islanders.

In the shootout, Nigel Dawes was able to score for the Rangers, off a shot-fake to open up Dubielewicz's 5-hole, then calmly pushing it between his legs, but Bill Guerin answered it immediately on a wrister through Henrik's 5-hole. After Gomez, Dubinsky, Rozsival (Rozsival?!) and Straka were unable to get one past Dubielewicz, Isles forward Jeff Tambellini finally ended it in the 6th round with a rising shot over Lundquist's glove side. Why Jagr, Chris Drury and Sean Avery sat on the bench while Michael Rozsival took a turn is a question I'd like to ask Rangers coach Tom Renney.

Shootout Results
Shanahan - Park
Dawes(1) - Guerin(1)
Gomez - Hunter
Dubinsky - Satan
Rozsival - Comrie
Straka - Tambellini(1)

A point is a point, especially this late in the season, but the Rangers can't be happy with this outcome. They outshot the Islanders 30-18 and carried the play for the majority of the game. They have much more talent on their roster; the Isles can't even claim to have a pure goal scorer. But because of sloppy defensive play, they allowed the Isles to counter off neutral zone turnovers, blind defensive zone passes and weak attempted clearing attempts. I don't know if I can say the Islanders out-efforted the Rangers in this one, but they certainly stayed focused for longer stretches.

Lundquist's inability to handle the puck cleanly in he 2nd period directly led to a turnover and the Islander's third goal. Lundquist looked great at times and tentative at others. As much as I hate to say it, Henrik Lundquist doesn't exactly look comfortable between the pipes right now. Following his getting yanked last game vs. the Flyers, its possible he needs a bit more rest. I'd like to see Valiquette get the start on Thursday night in the rematch at Nassau Coliseum; depending on his performance, it wouldn't kill the Rangers to use him a few more times down the stretch.