I recently had a poll on the HFBoards on the importance of Colton Orr. If he should be dressed everyday, or just against teams with legit heavyweights (and a few other options). I personally chose everyday, but many more chose only when the other team plays a legit enforcer. Well, you saw in the first period why it was important to have him everyday. You saw Ryan Callahan take a vicious elbow to the face, and then Colton Orr pound the everloving crap out of Sutton as soon as he got out of the penalty box. Kudos to Colton, that is your job, protect your teammates. And protect he did. Sutton simply covered up hoping not to end up with a broken face like many other Orr foes, and lucky for him, he only left with a seriously bruised ego. Colton must have got a good 15-20 shots in before the fight was broken up.
Other than that, the period was fairly even. Both teams had few chances, with both goalies needing to make very few key saves. Both teams look hungry, but disciplined. I actually like what I’m seeing here from the Rangers, but also I see exactly what I expected from the Islanders. Strong team Defense, terrible team offense. Considering that we aren’t playing a big portion of our team (big meaning important), the fact that the Islanders played us so even only seems to strengthen my opinion that the Isles will be the bottom feeders of the NHL this year.
Let’s see how this plays out.
-Inferno
