Rapid Recap: Rangers 6, Islanders 3

The New York Islanders fell to the New York Rangers 6-3 on Thursday night at UBS Arena, knotting the rivals' season series at two games apiece.
Brock Nelson scored his 35th and 36th goal of the season in the loss, but it was not enough to counteract Andrew Copp's natural hat trick in the first period, as well as goals from Chris Kreider, Ryan Strome and Ryan Reaves. Josh Bailey scored his second goal in three games with a late goal in the third period.
Semyon Varlamov made 17 saves on 23 shots in the loss. Alexandar Georgiev made 26 saves in the win.

THE SCORING:

1st Period:
3:34 - NYR 1, NYI 0 - Andrew Copp nets his 19th of the season to get the Rangers on the board early in the first period, scoring off a backhand feed from Artemi Panarin. Jacob Trouba picks up the secondary assist.
7:48 - NYR 2, NYI 0 - Copp quickly extends the Rangers lead with his second goal of the night burying a cross-ice feed from Panarin, who tallies his second point on the night. Adam Fox records the secondary assist.
18:13 - NYR 3, NYI 0 - With open ice, Ryan Strome finds Copp, who sneaks one past Varlamov with a wide-open net. Copp completes his second career hat trick.
2nd Period:
0:37 - NYR 3, NYI 1 - Brock Nelson fires one in from the slot to beat Georgiev glove-side, scoring his 35th goal of the season off a quick pass from Josh Bailey. Anders Lee tallies the secondary assist.
17:15 - NYR 4, NYI 1 PPG - Chris Kreider cleans up the rebound with the man advantage, scoring his league-leading 26th power play goal of the season. Adam Fox and Mika Zibanejad had the assists.
19:07 - NYR 5, NYI 1 - Ryan Strome extends the Rangers lead to 5-1, with a one-timer to beat Semyon Varlamov glove-side. The former Islander picks up his 20th goal of the season.
3rd Period:
2:06 - NYR 5, NYI 2 PPG - Nelson buries his second goal of the night on the power play, receiving a pass from Barzal, shooting through traffic to beat Georgiev. Noah Dobson picks up the secondary assist.
12:53 - NYR 6, NYI 2 - Ryan Reaves deepens the Rangers lead, finishing a three-on-one rush with Alexis Lafreniere and Barclay Goodrow.
13:22 - NYR 6, NYI 3 - Josh Bailey nets his 12th goal of the season, sneaking one last Georgiev. Noah Dobson records his second assist of the night, as Zdeno Chara collects his second point in his last five games.

NOTEBOOK:

Brock Nelson scored his team-leading 36 goals on the season, and now has six points in his last five games… Nelson ended the Rangers shutout streak at 200:29… Mat Barzal is on a three-game point streak against the Rangers (1G, 3A)... Oliver Wahlstrom rejoins the lineup after missing the last two games. He skated 12:14 and had a scuffle with Jacob Trouba in the second period… Otto Koivula skated on the third line with Wahlstrom and Kieffer Bellows on Thursday after being recalled on an emergency basis, recording one shot in 13:05 of ice time... Artemi Panarin tallied four assists on the night, moving to second in the NHL in assists (74).

GOALTENDING MATCHUP:

Semyon Varlamov stopped 17-of-23 in the loss.
Alexandar Georgiev stopped 26-of-29 in the win.

SPECIAL TEAMS:

The Islanders went 1-for-1 on the power play, and their penalty kill went 0-for-1.

IMAGE OF THE GAME:

HIGHLIGHT OF THE NIGHT:

Video: NYR@NYI: Bailey dishes blocked shot, Nelson tucks it

NEXT GAME:

The Islanders hit the road to take on the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday afternoon at KeyBank Center. Puck drop is set for 12:30 p.m.