3 Takeaways: Islanders Open Preseason with 4-1 Loss to Rangers

The New York Islanders kicked off the 2022 preseason on Monday night, falling 4-1 to the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden.
Jimmy Vesey (PPG), Chris Kreider, K'Andre Miller (SHG) and Zac Jones built a 4-0 lead for the Rangers before Robin Salo scored the Islanders lone goal in the loss.

While a loss to the Rangers is always an unsatisfying result for the Islanders, process, evaluation and experimentation reign supreme in preseason play.
"It was the first preseason game, and we haven't played for a while," Head Coach Lane Lambert said. "Pace was a lot quicker, obviously and so we weren't expecting anything perfect. There are some things that we obviously have to work on and special teams are one of them. We hadn't had a chance to practice them so far. So we'll move forward."
Here are three takeaways from the preseason opener:

FIRST LOOKS:

With a mix of veterans and prospects dressing on Monday, Lambert tried out some new line combinations.
Simon Holmstrom, the Islanders 2019 first-round pick, skated alongside Mathew Barzal and Zach Parise. The young Swede had a good look in the first period, pulling up on an incoming Ranger to feed Barzal in stride for a zone entry. Holmstrom skated 19:02 in the loss, including 3:55 on the power play, finishing with one shot on goal, two total attempts, a pair of giveaways and a takeaway.
"I liked him," Lambert said of Holmstrom. "I thought he made some plays. He looked comfortable and poised. And you know, I thought he looked good tonight. He was one of our better players."
Anders Lee, skating with JG Pageau and Oliver Wahlstrom, was noticeably physical on Monday, laying out Filip Chytil early in the first period and catching Vitali Kravtsov in the Rangers zone later in the period. Lee finished the game with five hits, which was notable as the captain only recorded five or more hits in three of his 76 games last season.
"He used his body and I thought he tried to sort of turn momentum a little bit and did things that a leader should do," Lambert said of Lee.
Islanders' fans got their first looks at Alexander Romanov on Monday, as the former Montreal Canadiens defenseman made his preseason debut.
Romanov skated 20:22, including a team-high tying 2:01 on the PK. The defenseman threw a big hit on Brennan Othmann in the Rangers zone in the first period, showcasing his physicality. Paired with Noah Dobson, Romanov was on the ice for three of the Rangers goals, though it was hard to fault the defenseman on a sharp-angled bank shot in the first period, or a deflection off an Islanders stick in the second.

Video: NYR 4 vs NYI 1 : Robin Salo & Simon Holmstrom

SPECIAL TEAMS:

The Islanders have yet to work on special teams through the first five days of training camp, so Monday's result, while not ideal, should be taken with a grain of salt.
The Islanders allowed both a power play and a shorthanded goal to the Rangers in the first period of the preseason opener. Vesey banked a shot off Semyon Varlamov's mask and in from a sharp angle to make it 1-0 at 10:51.
K'Andre Miller scored the shorthanded goal, finishing off an odd-man rush after an Islanders turnover at the Rangers blue line. The shorthanded goal came against an Islanders power play that featured regulars Barzal, Dobson and Lee with four seconds remaining in the period.
The Islanders power play had better looks in the third period, but still gave up some quality chances, including a breakaway to Gustav Rydahl in the third period that was stopped by Jakub Skarek.
Overall, the Isles went 0-for-4 with the man advantage and 1-for-2 on the penalty kill. Lambert said special teams will be a focus for next week.

SALO SHOOTS AND SCORES:

With two spots up for grabs on the Islanders blue line - and at least five contenders for those spots - Robin Salo made his case in the preseason opener.
Salo scored the Islanders' first goal of the preseason, sneaking a point shot through traffic and Dylan Garand, who played the back half of the game in relief of Igor Shesterkin.
Salo had a team-high five shots on goal, as well as a team-high seven shot attempts, playing to his strengths as an offensive defenseman, looking to get pucks on net.
"I've got to shoot a little harder next time," Salo said. "I haven't had the best shots, but at least the most important thing is to get the shots through and try to get some rebounds for the for the guys in front."
Salo also saw 2:40 of power play time quarterbacking a unit that included Zach Parise, JG Pageau, Cole Bardreau and Arnaud Durandeau.
"I'm just trying to focus on my game and do what I can help the team out," Salo said. "Play to my own strengths just get pucks through to support the offense and just stay active."

NEXT GAME:

The Islanders are back at it on Tuesday night as they take on the New Jersey Devils at Prudential Center. Puck drop is at 7 p.m.