Takeaways: Islanders Fall 5-1 to Rangers

The New York Islanders lost some ground in the playoff race on Tuesday night, falling 5-1 to the New York Rangers at UBS Arena.

The loss widened the gap between the Isles (57 points) and Rangers (62 points) to five points – a gulf the Islanders will need to make up if they are to leapfrog the Blueshirts in the wild card chase. The Isles still hold a game in-hand on the Rangers, but have now lost a season-high four straight games in regulation.

The out-of-town scoreboard wasn’t kind to the Isles either on Tuesday night, as Columbus (64 points) picked up a regulation win over Dallas. Boston (62 points) picked up one point in an OT loss against Toronto. Montreal and Philadelphia (59 points each) both leapfrogged the Islanders with regulation wins over Carolina and Pittsburgh respectively.

“At this point, the next game's huge,” Ryan Pulock said. “We're kind of fighting for our life here, so we have to learn here, and we have to be ready for the next one.”

Jonny Brodzinski (2G, 1A) and Urho Vaakanainen (1G, 2A) had three-point games, while JT Miller and Matt Rempe also scored for the Rangers, who netted five goals on their first 10 shots of the game, building an insurmountable lead, despite a 37-18 shot advantage for the Isles.

Alexander Romanov scored for the lone goal for New York.

Ilya Sorokin made six saves on 11 shots through two periods, while Jakub Skarek stopped all seven shots he saw in a third period relief appearance. Igor Shesterkin stopped 36-of-37 in the win.

TAKEAWAYS:

- The Islanders were burned by the Rangers bottom six, with Brodzinski netting a pair of goals and assisting on a Rempe deflection, while Vaakanainen opened the scoring in the first period and finished the game with three points. The goals weren’t pretty, with each involving a shot from range and/or bodies in front of the net.

There was an element of bad luck on the Rangers’ second goal – as Brodzinski’s shot deflected off Scott Perunovich’s skate and past Sorokin to make it 2-1 – but Rempe set a good screen on the third and had position to get a tip on the fifth. Captain Anders Lee said it was frustrating to keep the Rangers top scorers in relative check, but still see the score balloon the way it did.

Miller’s goal was the outlier of the evening, as the center was left unmarked in the slot, giving him a clear shooting lane before he cleanly beat Sorokin to make it 4-1.

“The first three goals, they were screened, there were bad bounces,” Head Coach Patrick Roy said. “We could have boxed out or keep the stick away, but they did a nice job getting in front of the net. We didn't give much and they scored.”

- The final score didn’t match how the Islanders felt they played on Tuesday night and some of the stats told a different story from the boxscore. The Isles outshot the Rangers 37-18 on the night and had a 15-9 advantage in high-danger chances at five-on five.

“It sucks to lose like that, especially at home against the Rangers,” Adam Pelech said. “It may sound crazy, but we did a lot of good things. It felt like we out-played them for majority of the game. I think we definitely out-chanced them, but at the end of the day we have to find ways to score.”

- It was an off night for Ilya Sorokin, who allowed five goals on 10 shots. The loss dropped the Islanders netminder to 3-5-2 against the Rangers lifetime. Sorokin has now allowed four-or-more goals in four straight games, 18 total goals against over that span. With Sorokin getting pulled after two periods, Jakub Skarek made his second-ever NHL appearance, stopping all seven shots in relief. Skarek looked good on his few opportunities, notably lunging across his net to make a blocker save on a one-timer by Artemi Panarin.

“It was not his best game,” Roy said of Sorokin. “I know he will bounce back. He's a character person... I know we can count on him, there's no doubt in my mind.”

- After going 2-for-4 against the Dallas Stars on Sunday night, the Islanders’ penalty kill had a bounce-back game, going 1-for-1. The Isles penalty kill outshot the Rangers power play two to one, with JG Pageau and Brock Nelson both getting quality looks from the slot.

NEWS AND NOTES:

• Brock Nelson extended his point streak to four games with an assist and has four points (1G, 3A) over that span.
• Kyle Palmieri’s three-game goal streak came to a close.
• The Rangers didn’t get out of the game unscathed, as defensemen K’Andre Miller (lower body) and Adam Fox (upper body) both left the game and did not return.
• Tuesday saw the NHL’s top-two face-off teams go head-to-head and the result was an even night, with both teams finishing at 50% (27-for-54).
• Bo Horvat had a team-high five shots on goal.

LINEUP NOTES:

Adam Boqvist drew into the lineup after sitting Sunday as a healthy scratch. Boqvist skated on a pairing with Adam Pelech. Scott Mayfield came out of the lineup in a corresponding move.

Boqvist had four shots and eight total attempts in 20:46 TOI, earning praise from Roy.

“He was really good tonight,” Roy said. “He was jumping. He was in the rush. I thought he had a really good game. He was very involved.”

NEXT GAME:

The Islanders ship up to Boston on Thursday night to take on the Bruins. Puck drop is at 7 p.m.