What a game

Rick Dipietro of the New York Islanders fights Al Montoya of the New York Rangers in a pre-season game Rangers

The New York Islanders and New York Rangers had their second match-up of the season, and second time at the Nassau Coliseum Tuesday night. Both teams came in hot. The Isles were winners of four of their last five, and the Rangers had finally kicked their bad start, winning four in a row, courtesy of two goals allowed by Henrik Lundqvist in the four games. The game got off to a good start, as the teams traded chances throughout the first period. A contest between these two rivals always has the fans riled up, as the crowd is split about 50-50 for the fans of each team. No fights occurred on the ice, but the punches were being the thrown all over the stands. That just shows how much intensity is flared in these games.
The first goal of an Islander-Ranger game is huge, and the Rangers struck first. Chris Drury scored a powerplay goal in the second period to give the Rags a 1-0 lead.
The Rangers were ahead as the third period began, but the Isles struck back early on. The Rangers regained the lead on a Tomas Pock powerplay goal. The Tank, Ruslan Fedetenko struck back for the Isles to tie it up. With 8 minutes to go however, the Isles took the lead for good as Miroslav Satan scored his second consecutive game winning goal. The Islanders now lead the season series 2-0 over the Rangers. The next battle between the two rivals will be at Madison Square Garden on November 19.