Islanders outmatched and undermanned in clash with rival Rangers at UBS Arena
Anthony Scultore
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The New York Islanders have their hands full tonight. Amid all their struggles this season, they must now face a red-hot Rangers team missing 9 key regulars.
Broadway’s brightest stars invade the UBS Arena for the first time and so winners in five of their last six. They come into the came with an 11-4-3 record and 25 points. That’s good for the fourth highest point totals in the NHL.
We’ve won five of the last six and the team is playing pretty well,” Rangers coach Gerard Gallant said today. “That’s what I’m happy about. It hasn’t been perfect but it’s been better.
Islanders in trouble
Imagine the electricity generated by two longtime rivals, both entering the season with playoffs-or-bust expectations, trying to establish a tone with one another in the first of four meetings between the teams — all with the libations and good cheer flowing among the fans of both teams seated in the 17,250-seat arena on Thanksgiving Eve.
But just four months later, the daydream has turned nightmarish for the Islanders, who will merely hope they have enough players to take the ice in Wednesday night’s game against the Rangers at Elmont, N.Y.
Both teams have been off since playing at home Sunday night, when the undermanned and bedraggled Islanders absorbed their sixth straight regulation defeat with a 3-0 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Rangers’ surge continued when Ryan Lindgren scored the game-winning goal in the final second of a 5-4 win over the Buffalo Sabres.
The two days between games provided barely any respite for the Islanders, whose losing streak is the franchise’s longest since a six-game skid from Dec. 2-13, 2010.
The Islanders, who had six players in COVID-19 protocols on Sunday, added defenseman Zdeno Chara to the list Tuesday. Team president and general manager Lou Lamoriello said the others in the protocol — Josh Bailey, Kieffer Bellows, Andy Greene, Ross Johnston, Anders Lee and Adam Pelech — have yet to produce a negative test required to return.
The only NHL team to have games postponed this season due to a COVID-19 outbreak is the Ottawa Senators, who had 10 players and assistant coach Jack Capuano in protocols when the NHL postponed three games last week.
“We are preparing to play unless we hear otherwise,” Lamoriello said.
In addition, Lamoriello said leading scorer Brock Nelson will be out two to four weeks with a lower-body injury suffered Sunday night. Nelson has played in the Islanders’ last 316 games, the second-longest streak in franchise history.
Rangers ready to roll
At 5-8-2, the Islanders are in last place in the Metropolitan Division and eight points out of a wild card spot entering Tuesday. New York lost to the eventual Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay Lightning in the NHL conference finals each of the last two seasons.
“We can’t do anything about that and what those results were,” Lamoriello said. “All we can do is focus in on today and get ready for (Wednesday).”
Readiness shouldn’t be an issue for the Rangers, who have won five of six (5-1-0) to jump into third place in the Metropolitan Division. Four of the wins have been by a goal — none more dramatic than Sunday’s victory, when Lindgren became just the fourth player in franchise history to score the game-winning goal in the final second and the first since Brad Richards on Dec. 17, 2011.
Lindgren’s last-second goal — officially recorded with 0.7 seconds left — capped the third one-goal comeback of the game for the Rangers, who also squandered a 3-2 lead 50 seconds after Kaapo Kakko scored at the 12:07 mark of the second.
“We were sloppy in the second period, didn’t get off to a great start in the first period either, but it’s one of those games,” Rangers head coach Gerard Gallant said. “But we found a way to get two points at the end.”
Igor Shesterkin is set to start for the Blueshirts tonight.
–Field Level Media contributed to this report