CANTLON: ISLANDERS DOWN RANGERS IN BRIDGEPORT, 5-2 

BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings

BRIDGEPORT, CT – The New York Islanders built a lead in the second period and maintained it en route to a 5-2 victory over the New York Rangers in an NHL exhibition contest before 7,033 at the Webster Bank Arena.

“I thought we played well in the first period with a good pace, a more North-South game. We made the five-foot passes and sustained the forecheck. They got opportunistic on their powerplay. We did well five-on-five, but we got away from that with 40 and 50-foot passes (in the second) instead of five-foot passes. Things got hairy when we get down three, and four to one. We got away from the way we’re playing and we can’t let the score dictate how we’re gonna play. We’ve got to play the same way,” new Rangers head coach David Quinn said.

With two powerplay goals in the second period, the Islanders controlled a vast majority of the play.

The first of the two powerplay goals came at 46 seconds when Josh Bailey, who was open on the right wing made it 2-1 Islanders from last years Calder Trophy winner, Matthew Barzal.

The Islanders extended their lead to 3-1 as one-time Sound Tiger, Anders Lee, was on the doorstep with solid positioning, and took a short pass from Bailey (three assists) and easily deposited into an open net at 12:46.

The goal ended the evening for Alexandre Georgiev and in came Dustin Tokarski. Georgiev played well in stopping 17 of the 21 shots he faced.

“He (Georgiev) is a good goalie. I didn’t know much about him. I was able to watch film of him last year. I was really impressed with him in development camp and he has picked it up right from there. He’s been a very good goalie in camp,” Quinn said of the second-year pro from Russia.

A nice Rangers-Islanders dust-up followed, but not like in years gone by.

Cal Clutterbuck cut to the right wing side and went airborne after Peter Holland knocked him down. Cody McLeod was nearby and dropped down on top of him with a crosscheck. Then the Islanders’ Casey Czikas and the Wolf Pack’s Brandon Crawley squared off. A few punches were thrown, but nobody in the melee received fighting majors. All involved did receive minor unsportsmanlike conduct penalties.

“We saw some of that the other night with the (Devils). Listen, we have to protect each other. We’ve got to stand up for each other. We’ve got to support one another and stick together. We got to do that from now until the day the season ends,” said Quinn of his revamped team that came at the end of the season last April.

Quinn was also clearly referencing Wednesday’s exhibition game at the Garden where big Eric Gryba’s hit on Boo Nieves that knocked him out of the lineup with the third concussion of his young pro career. The hit went unanswered.

The Islanders kept control and made it a three-goal lead when Anthony Beauvallier tallied his second of the game by splitting the Ranger defense tandem of Greenwich-native, Kevin Shattenkirk, and John Gilmour. He then slipped a forehand shot over Tokarski’s glove at 18:26, one Tokarski would likely want back.

Shattenkirk is coming off a serious injury from last season. Quinn was pleased with where he is in his recovery.

“I think Shatty did well. He had his moments for sure. It’s gonna take time (to get his game back) after missing as much hockey as he did. It’s gonna take time. You can’t just pick up where you left off. The good news is we have time to prepare (for the season) opener,” Quinn stated.

Shattenkirk was equitable in self-assessment.

“Certaintly, my decision-making could have been better in spots, but as far as the physical, I felt good. I was able to keep up with the play. I wasn’t behind. I’m just trying to find my place. It’s a little different. I’m one of the older guys now, and I really enjoy the role of working with the younger players.”

The Rangers got a last-second goal to narrow the deficit to just two goals with seven-tenths of a second left before the green light came on.

On the powerplay, Ryan Spooner was open in the right wing faceoff circle. Spooner shot the puck into an open net off a nice cross-ice pass from Mats Zuccarello. The entire Islanders roster froze including goalie Thomas Greiss, as Spooner’s shot went just inside the right post.

Shattenkirk picked up his second assist if the preseason on what was also his second of the contest.

The first period featured a lot of ex-Pack and CT Whale in the thick of the action.

Lias Andersson, the second-year pro and first-round pick who played in Hartford last year, with Zuccarello, a former CT Whale, were on the puck and creating offensive zone pressure.

Zuccarello, clearly a Rangers’ fan favorite, was denied at 3:49 in about 15-20 feet out.

One of the Rangers prized prodigy’s for this season, defenseman Libor Hajek, came off the left point on a sharp angle and had his bid squashed by Greiss.

The Rangers tallied the game’s first goal. Ex-Pack, Peter Holland, followed up on an earlier chance off the right wing, but couldn’t pull the trigger. He got the puck back about 35 feet out and whistled a wrist shot through an effective screen in front by McLeod that shot past Greiss to the stickside at 6:41.

Georgiev started the game between the pipes and stopped defenseman Johnny Boychuk who had come off the right point for a solid save shortly after the goal.

McLeod got into a solid scrap with Islander defenseman and ex-Spund Tiger Scott Mayfield.

Andersson got a solid setup from Zuccarello deep in the right wing corner, but his goal bid was stopped.

“Lias has had a very good camp. He did well in New Jersey the other night (two goals), and I think he had a good night tonight. You can’t have a great night every night, but what I love about him is he gives a great effort every night. To be a good pro, how bad is your bad?

“You’re not going have a great night every night, but minimize your bad nights, and at the end of those nights, people don’t notice, but you found a way to survive. He’s a smart kid. I think he had a pretty good night tonight,” Quinn said about the Rangers’ first-round pick (7th overall) from two years ago.

Vinni Lettieri had a strong late period shift with strong forechecking and forced a turnover while creating offensive zone pressure for the Rangers.

On the Islanders first powerplay, Georgiev stopped Czikas, who was wide-open in the right faceoff circle.

On the ensuing draw, from 35-feet out, Beauvallier cranked one that sailed past Georgiev at 17:55. It knotted the game at one.

The Rangers were kept in the game in early in the third with Tokarski stopping Czikas on a clean, shorthanded breakaway. Tokarski closed his five-hole. He didn’t get a solid cycle shift going till about about seven minutes left.

Former Sound Tiger, Ryan Pulock, closed the scoring with his second of the preseason at 8:05 of the third period for the Islanders.

NOTES:

-Chris Bigras and Hajak were a defensive pair with Hajak playing his offside.

Bigras had a strong night and nearly got the Rangers to within two late with a wicked slapshot off the crossbar.

The pair has caught Quinn’s eye.

“Hajak has been getting better every day. Bigras has been a surprise to me. David Oliver (one of the new assistant coaches) had him in Colorado and spoke very highly of him and he’s had a good camp.”

The Wolf Pack’s first on ice practice is tomorrow. It could include a few names from tonight’s lineup after they’ve been assigned to Hartford.

Few other transactions to report on.

The Rangers reassigned draft pick, Joey Keane, is back to the Barrie Colts (OHL).

Ex-Pack, Brandon Troock, is in Milwaukee’s camp.

The Islanders have made assignments to the Sound Tigers that include, the ex-Pack brothers Chris and Ryan Bourque, Mitchell Vandel Sompel, Mike Cornell, Matt Gaudreau, former Yale Bulldog, Ryan Hitchcock, former QU Bobcat, Jacob Rathgeb, Otto Koivula, Evan Buitenhuis, Scott Eansor, Kyle Burroughs, Mitch Gilliam, Ivan Kosorenko, Jeff Kubiak, Ryan MacKinnon Tyler Mueller and Yanick Turcotte and David Quenneville brother of ex-QU Bobcat Peter and second cousin to former Whaler current Black Hawks head coach Joel Quenneville.

Five players were assigned to their major junior teams. Emanuel Vella went to Flint-OHL, Kyle MacLean to Oshawa-OHL, while Arnaud Durandeau to Halifax-QMJHL, and Bode Wild and Blade Jenkins both head to Saginaw-OHL.

One player to Europe this week is Swiss native Pius Suter to ZSC Zurich (Switzerland-LNA).

Ex-Sound Tiger goalie, C.J. Motte. was part of a contingent sent by Minnesota to Iowa. The list included Landon Ferraro, the son of former Whalers’ great, Ray Ferraro, and former AHL All-Star. Cal O’Reilly.

Brian Flynn (South Kent Prep) and Jordan Nolan, the son of ex-Whaler Ted Nolan, and the brother of ex-Sound Tiger, Brandon, were both reassigned to San Antonio.

Josh Wesley, the son of former Whaler, Glen Wesley, was assigned from Carolina to Charlotte.

Drake Rymsha, the son of former Nighthawk, Andy is sent to Ontario by the LA Kings.

Joseph Masonius UCONN (HE) was assigned to Wilkes Barre-Scranton by Pittsburgh.

Nick Pitsikoulis (Westminster Prep) goes from EC Harzer Falken (Germany Division-3) to the Ratinger Ice Aliens (Germany Division-4).