3 Takeaways: Isles Fall to Rangers 6-3

The New York Islanders fell behind early and couldn't catch up, losing to the New York Rangers 6-3 at UBS Arena on Thursday night.
Brock Nelson scored his team-leading 35th and 36th goals of the season, but Andrew Copp's first period hat trick set the tone in Thursday's loss. Chris Kreider (PPG), Ryan Strome and Ryan Reaves also scored for the Rangers, while Josh Bailey rounded out the scoresheet for the Isles.

With the loss, the Islanders are 0-2-1 in their last three games and split the season series vs their crosstown rivals. The road team prevailed in all four meetings.

ISLES FALL BEHIND EARLY:

Thursday's game got away from the Islanders in the first period, as Andrew Copp recorded the second hat trick of his career.
Copp scored his first two goals by the 7:48 mark of the first period, as the Rangers were the faster team out of the gate. The Blueshirts took advantage of an Islanders turnover at the offensive blueline as Artemi Panarin, who had four assists, skated down the left wing and dished a backhand feed across the ice to Copp at 3:43. Copp buried another feed from Panarin at 7:48, posting up at the side of the net and burying a feed into a yawning cage.
RANGERS 6, ISLANDERS 3
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KINGER'S CALLS
Nelson's First Goal
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Copp completed the trick at 18:13 of the first period, knocking in a backdoor feed from Ryan Strome.
"It's a good team and they have a lot of skilled guys and they're good on the transition," Nelson said. "They're tough to handle. Starting in their own and they can make plays come out with an odd-man rush and you have to be on your toes and keep in front of you and they played well."
After allowing six high danger chances at five-on-five - as well as a handful of odd-man rushes - the Islanders slowed the pace of play in the second. Brock Nelson put the Islanders on the board 37 seconds into the extra frame, firing off a quick pass from Josh Bailey in the slot for his team-leading 35th goal of the season.
Nelson's goal ended the Rangers team shutout streak at 200:29.
The 3-1 scoreline lasted until the final three minutes of the second period, when the Rangers scored a pair of goals 2:08 apart. Chris Kreider swept an Adam Fox rebound by Semyon Varlamov at 17:15 for his league-leading 26th power-play goal, while Strome finished a play from Panarin at 19:07.
Nelson scored his second of the game early in the third, snapping a power-play goal through a couple of bodies and Georgiev at 2:06 to make it 5-2. Reaves finished off a three-on-one rush at 12:53 to make it 6-2, while Bailey finished off some cross-zone passing at 13:22 to complete the 6-3 scoreline.
"If not going to play the systematic way then you put everybody else in jeopardy," Head Coach Barry Trotz said. "I just thought we had some guys cheating the game. You look at the number shots, they didn't have a lot of a lot of shots, they didn't have a lot of chances compared to some other games, but when we gave them a chance it was pretty grade-A and it was pretty catastrophic."

LINEUP CHANGES:

The Islanders lineup had a different look on Thursday, as Anthony Beauvillier (upper body) and Jean-Gabriel Pageau (COVID-19 protocol) missed the contest, as did Associate Coach Lane Lambert and Assistant Coach Jim Hiller.
Josh Bailey took Beauvillier's spot alongside Anders Lee and Brock Nelson, while Otto Koivula was an emergency recall, slotting in for Pageau. Koivula centered Kieffer Bellows and Oliver Wahlstrom, with the latter returning to the lineup after missing two games as a healthy scratch.
Mathew Barzal centered Zach Parise and Kyle Palmieri with Pageau out.
Semyon Varlamov also returned to action for the first time since April 9, as the netminder was sidelined with a stomach illness. Varlamov stopped 17 of 23 in the loss, though Trotz didn't pin the result on his goaltender, saying he felt the backdoor plays left Varlamov with little chance on five of the six.
"Varly was fine," Trotz said. "That goes on the five players in front of him. There's not anything I can say about Varly's play."

GEORGIEV GETS BETTER OF ISLANDERS:

Igor Shesterkin may have the NHL's top save percentage, but with a 1-6-1 career record against the Islanders, the Rangers turned to Alexandar Georgiev for Thursday's game. Georgiev stopped 26-of-29 for the Rangers, improving to 8-3-0 in 11 career games against the Isles.
"He's a good goalie," Bailey said. "I'm not sure what to give you as far as the record goes."

NEXT GAME:

The Islanders head to Buffalo for a Saturday matinee against the Sabres. Puck drop is at 12:30 p.m.