Takeaways: Islanders Fall to Rangers 5-2

The New York Islanders suffered a loss at the hands of their crosstown rivals on Sunday, falling 5-2 to the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden.

Casey Cizikas and Brock Nelson scored for the Islanders, while Chris Kreider (SHG), Vincent Trocheck, Artemi Panarin (PPG, ENG) and Adam Edstrom scored for the Rangers, who led nearly wire-to-wire after opening the scoring 3:44 into the game.

Ilya Sorokin stopped 35 of 39 in the loss, while Igor Shesterkin stopped 35 of 37 in the win.

“Obviously, we want better, but I thought a lot of guys stepped up tonight,” Ryan Pulock said. “We created some really good scoring chances, but the end of the day, we have to find a way to get some more looks on the power play, and find a way to score another goal or two on the power play.”

SPECIAL TEAMS THE DIFFERENCE ON SUNDAY:

The Rangers top-10 special teams lived up to their billing on Sunday afternoon, with the Islanders allowing both a power-play goal and shorthanded goal to the Blueshirts.

The shorthanded goal came early, with Noah Dobson’s cross-ice pass getting picked off by Mika Zibanejad after some pressure on the Isles defenseman by Kreider. Zibanejad eventually fed Kreider for a two-on-one to open the scoring at 3:44 and it was nearly 2-0 on the same penalty, had it not been for a spectacular save by Ilya Sorokin on Reilly Smith.

“We gave three good chances on our power play,” Head Coach Patrick Roy said. “I'm sure [Dobson] would like to make a different play on that one, but after that I mean, I'm proud of our group, because we battle back.”

The Rangers also netted a power-play goal in the second period, with Panarin wristing a puck through traffic at 11:04 to give the Rangers a 3-1 lead. Panarin’s power-play goal finished a sequence that saw the Islanders fail to score on a five-on-three, negate a five-on-four power play by taking a penalty before winding up on a five-on-three of their own.

While the Islanders had some looks, ultimately the power play went 0-for-5, generating five shots and allowing a shorthanded goal, while the penalty kill went two-for-three.

“Shesterkin made some great saves, but we have to find a way on the power play to bang one home,” Anders Lee said. “Whether it's ugly, whether it's just getting the puck to the net, we can do a better job.”

The special teams showing negated some good work for the Islanders at even strength, where each team scored a pair of goals. According to Natural Stat Trick, the Islanders had a 14-10 advantage of high-danger chances at five-on-five.

“I felt five on five that we did a lot of really good things,” Pulock said. “I thought some of our scoring chances were, were right there, and we just weren't able to finish.”

Despite chasing for a majority of the game, the Isles were only down one goal to start the third period, thanks to a late second period goal from Nelson. The Isles nearly tied it up after hitting a post early in the third, while Bo Horvat was also denied by a very sharp Shesterkin, who also lived up to his billing as one of the top goalies in the game.

Instead, the Rangers pulled away, with a point shot caroming up and over Sorokin before dropping in behind to make it 4-2 at 5:18 of the third, with Panarin eventually icing it with an empty-netter with 3:23 to play.

“[It was a] 3-2 game going into third. Both sides had chances, both sides created stuff and both sides had mistakes,” Lee said. “They get a bounce to take a two-goal lead and we just weren't able with our chances in the third to pop one.”

ISLANDERS BRING IN NEW BLUE LINE:

With Adam Pelech, Mike Reilly and Alexander Romanov all out with upper-body injuries, the Islanders had three new bodies on the back end for Sunday’s game in Dennis Cholowski, Grant Hutton and Samuel Bolduc.

Per Islanders statistician Eric Hornick and the NHL, Sunday marked the first time since Oct. 11, 1993 the Islanders had three defensemen enter the lineup who hadn’t played in the prior game.

The new-look blue line meant a lot of work for Ryan Pulock (29:24 TOI), Dobson (24:57) and Scott Mayfield (23:00), who saw big minutes for the second straight game. Hutton (14:14) saw the most ice time of the three additions, including 1:33 shorthanded, while Cholowski saw 13:53 and Bolduc played 5:56. Bolduc’s ice time was limited in the back half of the game after he was pickpocketed by Reilly Smith on the Rangers second goal, leading to the Trocheck tally that made it 2-0.

“We've taken a hit to the back side, so we're going to have to step up,” Pulock said. “Different guys are going to have to come in and step up. And that's the older guys that have been in the lineup. We need to step up and elevate our game a little.”

ODDS AND ENDS:

- Cizikas scored his first goal of the season on Sunday afternoon, crashing the net to deposit a Pierre Engvall rebound. The Engvall-Cizikas-Simon Holmstrom line was noticeable for the Islanders all afternoon. Cizikas had three hits to go along with his goal, while Engvall had four shots on net and Holmstrom racked up seven shot attempts.

Roy praised the line postgame saying they were “outstanding” and that Holmstrom was “flying.” Roy said he also wants to see Engvall sustain his play from Sunday and carry it forward.

- Nelson scored his fifth goal of the season, tapping in a Kyle Palmieri feed with eight seconds left to play in the middle frame to make it a 3-2 game. Nelson had a chance to tie the score early in the third period, but rang a shot off the outside of the post. Nelson had a team-high nine shot attempts, with three on net, one blocked and five misses, including his shot off the post.

- The Islanders racked up 23 giveaways in Sunday’s contest.

NOTABLE QUOTE:

Patrick Roy on what he’s seen from Pierre Engvall the past two games:

“When he holds on that puck and protects that puck and brings it to the net, he's a good hockey player... When he's playing on the outside, obviously it's a little tougher for him. The last two games, I thought he challenged more in the middle of the ice and the net, and that's what I love.”

NEXT GAME:

The Islanders return home to host the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday night. Puck drop is at 7:30 p.m.