Yea, I remember watching that Rangers/Islanders game too and being so baffled. I get it that the Knicks are a more popular team in general, but like you said, they were so bad and the rangers so good that it made no sense in that context, but whatever.
I usually listen to Boomer and Carton in the morning and Boomer loves the Rangers and always tries to talk about them, but Carton just shuts him up usually although this morning he finally said he was giving in and the Rangers deserved the airtime to talk about.
It is sad, but its true though, Hockey just isn't as popular at the other three major sports. Hockey fans however are way more dedicated to the sport so the fans may lack quantity but make up for it in quality.