Kreider Dominant as Rangers Win Season Opener

Did the Rangers win their season and home opener?

YES! YES! YES!

Sorry, had to get that out of my system. Props to the crowd at MSG for chanting that ridiculous chant from the moment the fourth goal was scored till they left the building.

Anyway, the New York Rangers beat the New York Islanders by a score of 5-3. For a box score, click here.

So where to begin? Let’s start with Chris Kreider. From his first shift, you could see he was engaged and ready to play. Every year we hear how “this” will be the year he breaks out. If tonight was any indication, this might actually be the year that finally happens. Honestly, it doesn’t get much better than this:

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Speaking of which, what a pass by Pavel Buchnevich who didn’t look out of place at all in his NHL debut. I said the kid will surprise. He keeps making plays like that and you will hear about him outside of New York.

Know who else surprised? The fourth line. The Rangers might actually have a fourth line. I’m still not sold on Michael Grabner who had a couple of questionable moments but he did open up the scoring as well as play 1:46 on the Rangers perfect penalty kill tonight. But his line with Brandon Pirri and Jesper Fast was noticeable all night, and in a good way. After the game, Vigneault said being able to run four lines helped. About time he realized that.

Unfortunately I’ll have to disagree slightly as I wasn’t thrilled with the third line of Kevin Hayes between J.T. Miller and Rick Nash. Individually, they might have all been fine. Together, especially against the Tavares line, it didn’t work for me. Will be interesting to see if Vigneault felt the same way. He did quickly realize matching them up against the Islanders top line wasn’t the best idea. And while Miller had the empty net goal that essentially sealed the game, I’m going to guess Vigneault will have the same reaction I did – don’t ever try that again. You never shoot for the empty net from just outside your zone with two and a half minutes to play.

I have to mention the Rangers defense. It was competent, and I mean that in a good way. The good news was Brady Skjei looked much better than he did through all of preseason. His minutes were extremely sheltered but they were still decent minutes. And the pairing of Ryan McDonagh and Dan Girardi almost looked like their old selves. McDonagh had some trouble holding the blue line all night and Girardi definitely had a moment or two in the third period but overall, I’ll take it. Nick Holden remains invisible to me which should be a good thing but I still think he’s out when Klein returns since the Rangers need Adam Clendening on the power play. That’s probably the only thing that will keep him in the lineup at the moment.

Of course it isn’t a Rangers game if there isn’t some level of nervous energy in the building. The boys were clinging to a 1-0 lead when Mats Zuccarello managed to double it with a little over two minutes remaining in the second period. They got out of that period with that lead intact. 4:04 into the third it was a tie game and you could feel the tension in MSG. Last years’ team would’ve folded and gotten blown out of the building. This years’ team put their heads down and went back to work. It wasn’t easy but the boys got those goals back, the building was alive again and the Rangers finally beat the Islanders at MSG for the first time since January 31, 2014.

Let’s see if the Rangers can keep the good vibes going when they head to St. Louis on Saturday night.

(Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)