Precedent's Day

President's day was more special than normal, because the Rangers were on tap for what was to be a great hockey game at the Nassau Coliseum. The Islanders came into the game 3-0 vs. the Rangers for first time since the 07-08 season. This year the Rangers have been dominated by the Islanders who came into the game having won the previous three games by a combined score of 13-4 (which includes outscoring them 11-2 over the last 7 periods). Jaroslav Halak almost had shut outs over the Rangers in the last two games, but Carl Hagelin prevented that from happening by potting a goal with 10 seconds to play in their previous meeting.

The Islanders went with the same line-up once again with Halak in net. Calvin deHaan had recovered from the skate he took to the forehead, however, Head Coach Jack Capuano wanted to stay with the hot hand at this point. The Rangers have kept in step with the Islanders winning ways over the past month, even though they have been without Henrik Lundqvist due to an upper body injury. Instead, they went Cam Talbot, who has played well in Henrik's absence.

The game started innocent enough. Right off of the face-off the Islanders moved the puck into the Rangers zone. Cam Talbot went behind his net and played the puck to his defenseman in the corner. However, the pass was a bit wide and John Tavares happened to be sitting right there to put it in the empty net from a sharp angle at 11 seconds. Talk about starting off on the right foot. It was Tavares' 27th goal of the year. Big mistakes in big games usually make a big difference between winning and losing.

From that point forward the sell out crowd got into it and the Islanders responded. They had 14 shots and won all five face-offs in the first ten minutes of the game. They had a number of point blank chances right in front of Talbot. Then with about eight minutes left in the period, Mikhail Grabovski had the puck on the end boards and fed a pass out to Travis Hamonic out by the blue line. After Travis took a slap shot, Frans Nielsen cleaned up the mess on the rebound to give the Islanders a 2-0 lead. It was Fransy's 11th goal of the year.

At that very moment the lights went out. Not in the Nassau Coliseum but in my house. An ice storm hit Atlanta and the neighborhood went completely dark. I thought about just watching the game the next day, but then I realized that nothing was being recorded because…duh, there was no electricity. Not knowing how long it would be, I resigned myself to use twitter to get the play by play for the rest of the game.

From what I read it was a back and forth game the rest of the way. Without seeing the action it was impossible to know how the team was playing. It certainly was not a game for the faint of heart. From all accounts it was playoff atmosphere throughout the game. The Rangers came back to cut the lead in half before the first period was over on a goal from Ryan McDonagh.

In the first eight minutes of the second period all hell broke loose. It all started with Johnny Boychuk who came off the bench and got one past Talbot for an unassisted goal to reinstate the Islanders two goal lead at 3-1. However, the Islanders just could not pull away. Chris Kreider got a screen from Boychuk and clanked one off of the post and in past Halak's glove hand. Then McDonagh got another goal from the point. However, Ryan Strome got his 11th goal of the year when he stuffed the puck in the net on a power play. Nelson and Hamonic got the assists on the goal that gave the Islanders a 4-3 lead going into the last period. It certainly read like it was a very exciting game.

Strome was not finished on the night. Just a couple of minutes into the last period, Boyle turned it over inside the Islanders blue line to create a three on one break. Strome to Nielsen, back to Strome, who went top shelf for the Islanders third two goal lead of the game. It was Strome's 12th goal of the year. After reading that, it certainly seemed like the Islanders had control of the game. However, the Rangers would not be denied. They got goals by Derek Stepan, Marty St. Louis and Kevin Klein to take a 6-5 lead with five minutes to play in the game.

There was a controversial non-tripping call against Johnny Boychuk that seemed to push the momentum in the Rangers favor. However, the Islanders had one last chance to tie it, but Josh Bailey hit the post to preserve the Rangers win in the Coliseum. You could tell after the game that the Islanders were disappointed, but they also made reference to the fact that it was just a single game in a very long season. Still, to lose to the Rags definitely hurt. The Metropolitan Division got pretty tight all of a sudden.

In a way I am glad that I did not see the game, because I would have been pretty upset about how it ended. When the Islanders gave away a two goal lead in the first period it set an ominous precedent for what was to come. In fact, there was another precedent in the the second period when they gave up their second two goal lead. Then there was that third two goal lead in the last period. The Islanders should have seen it coming. After all, that is why they call it Precedent's Day.