NY RANGERS: NEAL PIONK DAZZLES IN 1-0 VICTORY

NY RANGERS: NEAL PIONK DAZZLES IN 1-0 VICTORY

By: Matthew Blittner

THAT'S ONE!

What a move?!

Neal Pionk, a defense prospect out of Hermantwon, Minnesota introduced himself to the Madison Square Garden crowd in style.

With 2:31 gone in the overtime period, Pionk showed why he's a highly touted prospect when he pulled out a Spin-O-Rama move to get by the Isles defense and shot the puck over goaltender Eamon McAdam's left shoulder for the 1-0 Rangers victory.

Throughout the game Pionk showed he's got the goods by shutting down each Isles player that he was tasked with shadowing.

One of several impressive youngsters that the Rangers trotted out in their first preseason game, Pionk, along with Lias Andersson, Gabriel Fontaine, Anthony DeAngelo, Ryan Graves, Cole Schneider, Christoval Nieves, and Vinni Lettieri, welcomed themselves into the Rangers-Islanders rivalry. 

DeAngelo and Graves had exceptionally strong games on the Rangers' blue line. Every time DeAngelo set foot on the ice he made an impact. His speed and hands made him a threat at both ends of the ice, as the Isles simply had no answer for him. Had Jaroslav Halak and Eamon McAdam not stood on their heads, DeAngelo would have ended the game long before it got to overtime.

Graves showed off his heavy shot and deceptive speed throughout the evening, all while holding whoever he guarded in check.

Andersson, the Rangers first-round draft pick back in June, showed The Garden crowd a small sample of the future. Of course, it was his pass to Pionk that setup the game-winning tally. 

Fontaine, Schneider, and Lettieri were all over the ice and gave Rangers fans a glimpse at what is coming through the pipeline.

And let's not forget about Nieves, who helped Andersson setup the pass that Pionk turned into the game-winner. Throughout the affair, Nieves was nothing short of a ball of energy as he routinely out-raced opponents to the puck.

As for the more established players, JT Miller got himself reacquainted with the centre position, while also seeing time on the power-play and penalty-kill. Captain Ryan McDonagh, Rick Nash, and winger Pavel Buchnevich all took further steps to prepare themselves for the upcoming season.

On the goaltending front, Ondrej Pavelec showed that Benoit Allaire is indeed the "Goalie Whisperer," with a strong performance, albeit in a small sample-size -- he faced only 10 shots through two periods.

For the third period Brandon Halverson replaced Pavelec in net, and was equally impressive as he faced seven shots and turned them all aside. 

Onto special teams. 

The Blueshirts were a perfect seven-for-seven on the penalty kill. Unfortunately they were also 0-for-8 on the power play. Thankfully, it was only the first preseason game and a good power play takes time to develop, so there's no need to worry.

Now, many of you may be wondering how there were so many penalties -- a total of 18 were assessed throughout the game. As Joe Micheletti so aptly stated during the second period, "during the offseason the NHL wanted to address the amount of slashes that players were receiving to their hands, so the officials are going to call a penalty every time a stick touches somebody's hands above the belt." That they did, as there were over a dozen slashing penalties called during the game. As Joe said, "it's going to take sometime for the players to get used to this."

An inordinate number of penalties aside, the intensity was there from both teams. It may be early, but Opening Night is just around the corner and when it comes, the Rangers will be ready.