ELMONT, NY — The Rangers’ razor-thin playoff hopes were kept alive in emphatic fashion with a dominating 9-2 victory over the Islanders on Thursday night at UBS Arena. And while the Blueshirts’ season is swirling down the drain, they can take solace in knowing that they officially brought their crosstown rivals down with them.
Entering Thursday’s play with one more loss eliminating them from postseason contention, the Rangers (37-35-7, 81 points) rolled over the hapless Islanders behind four first-period goals from Mika Zibanejad, Will Cuylle, Vincent Trocheck, and Artemi Panarin.
“Yeah, it felt good,” Cuylle said less than 24 hours after a demoralizing 8-5 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers in which they gave up six goals in the third period. “Put up a lot of goals like that, and especially after a tough loss last night, to bounce back with two points, it feels good.”
The beatdown has put the Islanders’ (34-33-11, 79 points) freefall into the abyss of playoff-less hockey into motion. If the Montreal Canadiens, who hold the second and final Wild Card berth in the Eastern Conference, pick up just a single point in their game on Friday night against the Ottawa Senators, the Islanders will officially be eliminated.
Such a result never appeared to be in doubt considering the track record of this rivalry — or lack of it — this season. The Rangers had outscored the Islanders 14-3 in their three previous head-to-head meetings this season.
Zibanejad opened the scoring just 3:17 into the game to finish off a pretty rush into the Islanders’ zone off a Ryan Pulock neutral-zone turnover. Cuylle left a drop pass between the circles for JT Miller, who fed Zibanejad in the right circle.
Islanders goalie Marcus Hogberg never had a chance — an overarching theme for his night — as Zibanejad finished into an open net.
At the 12:49 mark, Zibanejad started the Rangers’ second goal when he came down the right wing of the Islanders zone and sent a saucer pass toward Miller in front of Hogberg. The netminder was able to kick the pass away, but right into the path of Cuylle, who finished with ease.
“If you just look at the zone time and some of the chance that we’re able to generate especially at the start of the game, just getting it behind him playing a simple game, I thought it was really good,” Rangers head coach Peter Laviolette said. “But definitely contributions from everybody.”
Islanders defenseman Noah Dobson went off for a hold just 43 seconds later, and the Rangers’ power-play cashed in just 19 seconds. At the left post, Trocheck was allowed to back up alone in front of Hogberg and lift his chance from close range into the roof of the net.
The overwhelming period was capped off with 43.4 seconds left as Adam Fox’s pass along the boards from behind his own net found Trocheck, who was lurking at the Islanders’ blue line on the right wing. Alone against defenseman Anthony DeAngelo, he waited for Panarin to join him on the odd-man rush. One quick pass gave the Rangers star an open net to finish in.
“We didn’t manage the puck very well,” Islanders head coach Patrick Roy said. “Turnovers were the difference in that game. The Rangers are a team with a lot of skill… if you make bad decisions in zone exits or at the blue line, they’re going to make you pay. That’s exactly what happened.”
Juuso Parssinen snuck a wraparound through the wickets of an unsuspecting Hogberg 8:19 into the second period to give the Blueshirts a five-goal lead.
Max Tsyplakov spoiled Igor Shesterkin’s shutout bid with 52.5 seconds left in the second when he wristed a power-play goal from the right dot over the glove of the Rangers netminder.
Brett Berard made it 6-1 7:54 into the third period when he slid a backhander through the legs of Hogberg.
It was the last action the Islanders’ goalie saw, as Tristan Lennox made his NHL debut after being emergency recalled earlier on Thursday. The 22-year-old played just four games this season in the AHL after recovering from a gruesome leg injury.
Hudson Fasching pulled one back for the Islanders with 9:08 left in regulation, slapping a rebound off the back boards past an out-of-position Shesterkin, but Berard nabbed his second just 1:45 later, prompting Roy to go back to Hogberg.
Alex Lafreniere got the Rangers’ eighth when he toe-dragged around Ryan Pulock and potted a close-range writer top shelf with 4:07 to go. Panarin picked up his second and completed the Islanders’ embarrassment when he banked a shot from behind the net off Hogberg and in with 1:11 left.
