Rangers-Islanders: Drury Scores (and Rangers Win)

Chris Drury scored his first goal of the season one minute into last night’s game. Yes, that’s right, Chris Drury scored a goal.

The game was stopped, and a special ceremony took place at center ice to commemorate the moment. Drury’s parents flew in, and returned his Little League World Series trophy they confiscated and vowed not to give back until he scored. When the game resumed, Drury rifled in his second goal in the third period. And his parents returned his Hobey Baker Award to him.

The Captain led the Rangers over the Islanders, 4-2. They’re now 9-2-1, with 19 points. That ties the mark for the best start in franchise history (with the 1978-79 and 1989-90 teams). They have the most points in the NHL (though they’ve played the most games). And Tom Renney moved up to fourth place on the Rangers all-time coaching wins list. He has a 142-100-36 record with the Blueshirts. He passed Roger Neilson, but is still 200 victories behind Emile “The Cat” Francis.

Last night was the third game in four nights for the Rangers, but they won them all. This one was a fast-paced game. And since it was Rangers-Islanders, there was some chippiness, bodies thrown around, and pushing and shoving around the net. And there was one battle of the fists—Aaron Voros vs. Nate Thompson. It was a draw due to exhaustion.

For the first 30 minutes, a goalie’s duel broke out. Henrik Lunqvist and Joey MacDonald traded highlight-reel saves while the two teams flew back and forth. But Lundqvist held up his end of the bargain, as MacDonald let in three Rangers goals the last half of the game. Lundqvist made 28 saves and covered up some sloppy play by his teammates. He’s been consistently great since the opening game. He’s the King.

Drury opened up the scoring in the first, banking a shot off MacDonald from behind the net. Ryan Callahan broke a 1-1 tie by pouncing on a loose puck in front of the net and banging it home in the second. Scott Gomez gave the Blueshirts a two-goal lead, scoring on a four-on-four in the third.

And Drury finished things off, whistling a slap shot past MacDonald on a five-on-three. It was the Rangers’ first five-on-three goal this season. They drove to the net all game long, and dominated the third period, out-shooting the Fishsticks 14-5. That’s two games in a row of completely controlling the last period of play. They out-shot Pittsburgh 18-2 on Saturday.

Gomez had another good game He had a goal, an assist and was 19-8 on face-offs. Besides Lundqvist, he’s been the Rangers' best and most consistent player this season. Michal Rozsival had two assists. Dan Girardi made a nice play, knocking the puck away on a Richard Park breakaway.

Brandon Dubinsky committed two early penalties and was sent to the doghouse for most of the first period. A Dmitri Kalinin shot knocked MacDonald’s mask off, and stunned the goalie. He shook it off and finished the game. Though he’s now under the impression that he’s Chico Resch.

The Rangers have scored power play goals in four straight games. Markus Naslund has a four-game point streak going, and Drury and Nikolai Zherdev have three-game streaks. Maybe with all the recent line shuffling, the team has finally found some combinations that will work long-term.

Next game: Thursday vs. Atlanta at the Garden

Bag-O’-Knuckles-O-Meter

Paul Mara: 2

Colton Orr: 2

Aaron Voros: 2

Ryan Callahan: 1

Brandon Dubinsky: 1

Marc Staal: 1