NFT: Islanders @ NEW YORK RANGERS: Games 1 and 2

This was a shockingly different performance.

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In comment 15124816 Greg from LI said:

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From his Wikipedia:

"Born in Bulgaria, Georgiev started playing hockey in Russia, where his family moved shortly after he was born"

Now I won’t have hear all the Icelander fans thinking that the Cup is there’s. Nice domination tonight fellas!!!

Isles were not up to matching that. Feel bad for Sorokin to have such a rough first game.

This divison is going to be a war. It’s not fair to the teams in the division, but it’ll be entertaining fuck.

I just remember him being called the first Bulgarian in the NHL.

You were talking to someone who doesn’t closely follow the team. It is very clear what this team is and isn’t. Neither Thursday’s game or last night’s game moved the needle on that.

These games have become lopsided wins in both directions lately. On the broadcast they mentioned something like 4 of the last 6 NYI/NYR games have been decided by four or more goals.

I think both fan bases saw each end of the spectrum for their team in the last two days. Honestly I feel about the Islanders right now exactly how I did on Wednesday.

I was disappointed Sorokin had to have that kind of debut. The first Buchnevich goal was soft, but making your highly anticipated NHL debut unplanned with 15 minutes notice is probably a little unsettling. Probably more unsettling when your sound defensive team makes uncharacteristic mistakes in front of you all night.

A spectacular performance after the total dud in the opener. Georgiev was a steadying presence throughout, Buchnevich having a great two-goal night, joined by Panarin also with two, and one by Kakko.

I think this is about what to expect from the Rangers this season. There are going to be nights where they look absolutely brilliant, and there are going to be turds like the opener. Thursday night looked like a young Rangers team having played 3 games in 10 months with a lot of new pieces against an established Islanders team coming off a deep playoff run. Last night, players who looked bad Thursday appeared a lot more comfortable (namely K’Andre and Kakko). Lafreniere doesn’t have any points yet, but you can tell by watching him he’ll get going soon.

Smith and DiGiuseppe were also big factors for the Rangers last night, and while the Islanders didn’t have a ton of chances, Georgiev was steady back there. Zibanejad and Panarin looked like they played with another gear last night compared to Thursday. Trouba arguably played his best game as a Ranger and looked like the guy they traded for. It doesn’t get any easier for the Rangers though with NJ playing some very good hockey to start the year, and Pittsburgh is always dangerous. This is going to be a hell of a season. These all feel like playoff games!

In comment 15124791 Anakim said:

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In comment 15124787 pjcas18 said: Quote: In comment 15124779 Anakim said: Quote: Go with the older Russian goalies instead of the younger ones Shesterkin is older than Georgiev, isn't he? Hah yeah. Should've said, "go with the more experienced Russian"

To be fair, I think Georgiev is from Belarus...just saying. 😉

In comment 15125048 Greg from LI said:

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I just remember him being called the first Bulgarian in the NHL.

Sorry, yes Bulgarian is correct.

Few things:

- K'Andre is a dream skater. So smooth, covers a lot of ice

_ Lindgren, two games in, his face is already fucked up

- Buchnevich has really turned his game around from a few years ago

- Did anybI'llody notice Panarin joking around by mouthing off to Johnston (oh my God does he look like big bastard) as he skated away from that toss up on the boards? I thought it was pretty funny.