EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — The Islanders had their first outdoor victory well in hand on multiple occasions against the arch-rival Rangers at the 2024 Stadium Series at MetLife Stadium.
After yielding an early opening goal, they scored three in a 3:14 span in the first period as a part of a four-goal unanswered run to take a commanding three-goal lead early in the second period.
Then Anders Lee, who scored the fourth goal early in the second, took a slashing penalty moments later and the Rangers took advantage of the league’s worst penalty kill through a Vincent Trocheck deflection.
Trocheck pulled one more back to cut the Islanders’ advantage to one heading into the third period, but Alexander Romanov’s tap-in early in the frame replenished a two-goal advantage.
And then the penalties began again.
Scott Mayfield took his second penalty of the day midway through the third which the Islanders managed to kill off, but Mathew Barzal took a hooking penalty during 4-on-4 play to give the Rangers a 5-on-3 advantage by pulling goalie Igor Shesterkin with six minutes left.
Chris Kreider scored with 4:08 to go to make it a one-goal game.
“My penalty changed it a bit,” Barzal said. “We were up by two and had the game under control… I thought it was a little weak.
“Just not smart… I could have just been a little more patient rather than trying to check him.”
One minute and 40 seconds later, Mayfield took his third penalty, a trip, and the inept penalty kill was burned again when Mika Zibanejad scored the tying goal with 1:29 to go in regulation.
Ten seconds into overtime, Artemi Panarin scored the game-winner to stun the Islanders.
“We weren’t able to get a kill. It turned out to be the difference,” forward Brock Nelson said. “They had a push, they had some momentum. That’s the name of the game if you can ride that wave.”
The one point was little consolation for an Islanders team that needs every single point that they can get at this point in the season. As of Monday morning, they sit four points out of the final Eastern Conference Wild Card spot behind the Detroit Red Wings and seven points out of third place in the Metropolitan Division.
Talk about putting a damper on what could have been a historic day in franchise history.
“It all doesn’t really matter. It’s a big game, a big atmosphere,” Barzal said. “It sucks not to get two [points].”
With an off day on Monday, the Islanders have little time to rectify their overarching issues — the Rangers cashed in on three of five power-play opportunities on Sunday. It lowered the Islanders’ historically bad penalty kill to just 70.73% on the season.
They also don’t have much time to get over the loss, which hits especially hard given the setting.
“This one feels like it’s going to take a little bit right now just given the circumstances of the day and the game and the environment,” Nelson said. “So we just have to take a little bit of time now to reflect… review and think about some areas we can tidy up. The next game for us is the biggest game of the year. We have to get right back to it and find a way to win and string together a few.”
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