Rooney, Kreider help Rangers hand Islanders seventh straight loss

ELMONT, N.Y. --The New York Rangers' fourth line, led by Kevin Rooney, scored five points to help hand the New York Islanders their seventh straight loss, 4-1 at UBS Arena on Wednesday.

Rooney scored twice for his first NHL multipoint game, Ryan Reaves had his first two-assist game and Barclay Goodrow had an assist for the Rangers (12-4-3), who have won six of seven.
Chris Kreider also scored two goals to extend his team lead to 15, and Igor Shesterkin made 20 saves.
"They were great," Rangers coach Gerard Gallant said of the fourth line. "They did their job tonight, obviously. 'Reavo' made some great plays, Rooney got a couple of goals and Goodrow was great. They were obviously the key to our win tonight. Our fourth line was the difference."
Andy Andreoff scored, and Semyon Varlamov made 17 saves for the Islanders (5-9-2), who have scored seven goals during the skid and have lost each game by at least three goals.
"It's tough," Islanders center Casey Cizikas said. "We're working. That's the thing, we're working hard, we're trying to get in those spots, they're just not falling for us right now. I think that's the frustrating thing, guys are working, guys are trying."

The Islanders were missing eight players who are considered regulars, including five of their top six defensemen. Forwards
Anders Lee
and
Josh Bailey
, and defensemen Adam Pelech,
Andy Greene
and Zdeno Chara are in NHL COVID-19 protocol, along with forwards Kieffer Bellows and Ross Johnston. Center Brock Nelson, and defensemen Noah Dobson and Ryan Pulock, are out with lower-body injuries.
"It doesn't matter what lineup we put out there, you're in the NHL, you can either get it done or you can't," Islanders coach Barry Trotz said. "The only things we can control right now are our work ethic, our systematic detail, our commitment and our attitude. Our work ethic was fine, our systematic detail was good for the most part. We had one or two breakdowns, but we managed most of it. We're just not getting a break when we need it. We battled."
Kreider scored 29 seconds into the second period to give the Rangers a 1-0 lead. It was his ninth power-play goal, tying him with Edmonton Oilers forward Leon Draisaitl for the NHL lead.

Rooney made it 2-0 at 14:28 of the second after a backhand pass from Goodrow from behind the goal line.
"We just want to create momentum for the team," Rooney said of his line. "If the pucks go in, they go in. We had a game a couple weeks ago in Columbus (a 5-3 win on Nov. 13) where we played really well, but they didn't go in for us. It was still a strong game. We're just trying to be consistent. When they go in, hopefully they come in bunches."
Andreoff cut it to 2-1 at 3:52 of the third period, but Gallant put his fourth line on the ice for the ensuing face-off and Rooney scored 20 seconds later off a pass from Reaves to make it 3-1.
"I don't think he was throwing us out there expecting us to go score," Reaves said. "But I think he's expecting us to play with energy, get the puck deep, kind of have a bump up shift and draw some momentum off that. It's just a bonus that we put one in."
Reaves, who is known more for his physical play, carried the puck down the left side and made a forehand-to-backhand move in the bottom of the left circle before sliding the puck across the slot to Rooney for a one-timer.
"It's not a usual play for me, but I'll take it," Reaves said. "I'm going to saran wrap these (hands) and try not to touch anything. I'm like Ricky Bobby (from the movie 'Talladega Nights'); I don't know what to do with my hands right now."
Kreider scored his second goal and team-leading 15th at 11:02 for the 4-1 final.
"We've got to find a way to win a hockey game with a less than ideal situation," Trotz said. "No one is going to feel sorry for us and I sure hope we're not feeling sorry for ourselves. If that's the case, I'm disappointed in our group. But I don't see that, so I'm not worried."

NOTES: Islanders defensemen Paul LaDue and Thomas Hickey, and forward Otto Koivula each played his first NHL game this season. It was LaDue's first since Dec. 6, 2019; Koivula, who was recalled from Bridgeport of the American Hockey League earlier Wednesday, played his first since March 5, 2020. … It was Andreoff's first NHL goal since Feb. 19, 2018. … Reaves had two assists in a game for the first time in his NHL career (701 games). It was his third career multipoint game. … Rangers center Ryan Strome had an assist to extend his point scoring streak to seven games (one goal, seven assists). … Rangers forward Kaapo Kakko extended his point streak to five games (three goals, three assists) with an assist on Kreider's second goal.