The New York Islanders came up short in the Battle of New York this afternoon, falling 5-2 to the Rangers.
With none of Adam Pelech, Alexander Romanov or Mike Reilly available, a really shorthanded Islanders blue line featured Dennis Cholowski coming back into action to play with Noah Dobson, while Ryan Pulock was shifted to his off-side to play with Scott Mayfield, and Samuel Bolduc and Grant Hutton made up the bottom pairing. The forward group remained the same, and Ilya Sorokin got another start.
First Period
The Islanders came out pretty strong in the first few minutes with some shots, and had a power play chance early. However, on the ensuing man advantage, Noah Dobson committed a terrible turnover, and the Rangers came down ice with Chris Kreider finishing off a nice passing play with Mika Zibanejad for a shorthanded goal, putting the Rangers ahead less than four minutes in.
Then on the same man advantage, Sorokin had to make a huge save on Reilly Smith, just to keep the Islanders only down by one. Obviously, it was a pretty abysmal power play.
Filip Chytil then had a chance that went off the post near the midway mark of the period, before Noah Dobson jumped into the rush to take a pass and get a good chance in-close.
Overall, it was an alright opening frame from the Islanders, but while the shots landed at only 11-10 Rangers, they relied on Ilya Sorokin quite a bit at certain points.
Second Period
Only about minute into the second period, Samuel Bolduc committed a bad turnover skating the pick around the net, and Reilly Smith fed Vincent Trocheck, who beat Sorokin to extend the lead to 2-0.
Jimmy Vesey then had another great chance for the Rangers that required Sorokin to slide over and make a big save, before Bo Horvat had a chance on a partial break shortly after, but was denied by Igor Shesterkin. Mika Zibanejad then nearly scored his second of the period off a loose puck in close, but Sorokin made another good save.
But then only about five minutes into the frame, Pierre Engvall threw a shot on goal and it squeaked through Shesterkin to fall to the ice, and Casey Cizikas went to the net to poke it in, cutting the lead to 2-1.
The Islanders had a great chance to even the game with a 5-on-3, but just as the initial penalty expired, Anders Lee negated the rest of the power play with a penalty of his own. Another Islanders’ penalty followed, and the Rangers had some power play time of their own, with Sorokin having to make a big save on Adam Fox.
But later on the man advantage, Artemi Panarin just threw the puck on net from the point and it beat Sorokin through a screen, reinstating the Rangers’ two-goal lead.
Ilya Sorokin then had to make a big save on Alexis Lafreniere to keep the Islanders in the game shortly after.
But then with only eight seconds remaining in the period, Kyle Palmieri managed to slide a puck over to Brock Nelson who buried it, cutting the lead to one through 40 minutes and giving the Islanders a bit of life.
Third Period
The Islanders had a good chance early in the third period on a 2-on-1, but Brock Nelson was denied. A penalty to Simon Holmstrom put the Islanders down a man a little later, but they managed to kill it off, and when Holmstrom came out of the box, he came down ice with Bo Horvat for a great chance, but they were denied by Shesterkin.
But then five minutes into the period, a shot from Braden Schneider bounced off Adam Edstrom and fluttered over Sorokin and in, making it a 4-2 Rangers lead. A delay of game penalty gave the Islanders another chance to get back into the game, and while they had some chances, they couldn’t convert.
The Islanders kept pressing, and Anders Lee had a good chance with about six minutes to go, but when they pulled the goalie late, Artemi Panarin buried an empty netter from down ice, making it a 5-2 game. The Islanders had a late power play afterwards but seemed to just be going through the motions, as the clock ticked down for a Rangers win.
Takeaways
Despite the loss, it’s important to factor in the Islanders’ predicament. Half of their defense group was unavailable, and they were without two of their top five forwards. The Rangers are a better team on paper even when the Islanders are fully healthy, so this was a pretty sizeable mismatch to begin with.
But the Islanders managed to hang around, and still put up 37 shots in the loss. They were able to generate some really good opportunities in each period, and had a chance to come out on top if a few bounces went their way.
Credit to Kyle Palmieri as well, who took a stick to the face in the first period, but was not only back out for the second period, but managed to help create the Islanders' second goal. Then while all of the Islanders’ three regular defenders were tasked with a larger workload given the absences, Ryan Pulock played over 29 minutes in the loss.
Of course, it’s not all positive for the Islanders by any means. Ilya Sorokin had to be very good to keep the Islanders in it at times, with quite a few saves that he probably had no business making.
Each of the first two goals in particular came off really tough defensive mistakes as well, courtesy of Noah Dobson and Samuel Bolduc. Especially with Dobson, he’s going to be counted on to really help carry this team over the next little while given the injuries, and he can’t afford to make those kinds of blunders.
Special teams also continued to be an issue. The Islanders went 0-for-5 on the man advantage and gave up a shorthanded goal, while the Rangers capitalized on the power play themselves. It’s been a major factor in their season so far.
It wasn’t necessarily a bad game for the Islanders, especially factoring in the injuries while facing a really strong team. But they now stand at a 4-6-2 record, and they’re going to need to find a way to pick up points over the next stretch, even without some important really important players available. They're in a tough spot, but if they can't manage to find a way to win games with the lineup as it stands, they could find themselves really outside the playoff race by the time their top players return.
The Islanders will be back in action on Tuesday, when they host the Pittsburgh Penguins.
New York Islanders Blogger • 
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