The Rangers came into Saturday hoping to finally win at home, and the Islanders came into Saturday hoping to put forth a 60-minute effort and relegate a messy loss to the Wild on Friday to the past.
Neither achieved either goal, but the Islanders got much closer.
The visitors left Madison Square Garden happy, having won 5-0 and settled into the game well after a poor first period.
There was also the matter of goalie Ilya Sorokin, who outplayed best friend and Rangers counterpart Igor Shesterkin, keeping his Islanders in the game while under an early barrage and finished with 30 saves for his first shutout of the season.
As for the Rangers, whatever bizarre piece of voodoo has caused what is now a seven-game home losing streak during which scoring has become all but impossible, there is not much left for them to do or say aside from hope that the parade of chances they had early Saturday means there will be some positive regression in the very near future.
The Garden crowd, though, was left listless and booed the Rangers off the ice into the second intermission, with the Islanders having seized control of the game for good.
Bo Horvat’s second goal of the night, off Jonathan Drouin’s no-look feed that went low-to-high on the power play, had made it a 3-0 game at 18:42 of the second.
Horvat’s 11th goal of the season also, at least temporarily, had tied him for the NHL’s scoring lead — and his two goals on the night marked yet another strong performance with Team Canada representation watching on, as Kyle Dubas took in a second straight Islanders game from the press box.
With Sorokin fending off everything he saw for the last 20 minutes, the Rangers’ comeback chances were snuffed out, leaving the home side to answer for a fifth scoreless performance on Garden ice.
Jean-Gabriel Pageau’s empty-netter with 2:01 to go sealed it, and Anders Lee put a cherry on top with 30 seconds left.
After Friday’s lifeless performance at UBS Arena, Islanders coach Patrick Roy completely overhauled his lines and pairs for the first of a seven-game road trip that next visits Prudential Center in Newark on Monday before a long haul out west.
Matthew Schaefer was with Ryan Pulock, Adam Pelech paired with Tony DeAngelo and Alexander Romanov with Scott Mayfield.
Mathew Barzal and Horvat were broken up, with Barzal between Drouin and Simon Holmstrom, and Horvat centering Emil Heineman and Kyle Palmieri.
Anthony Duclair moved up to the third line with Lee and Pageau.
Cal Ritchie moved down to the fourth line with Casey Cizikas and Max Tsyplakov, who reentered the lineup after four straight games as a healthy scratch.
Presumably, that was meant to inject some energy into things.
It did not, as Sorokin was forced to make a 10-bell save on Artemi Panarin less than 30 seconds into the match, and the Islanders were on their heels throughout the early goings.
Nevertheless, the Islanders opened a 1-0 lead when Heineman fed Horvat 10:29 for the latter’s 10th goal of the season, and Drouin doubled the lead with 34 seconds left in the first, taking advantage of a Rangers breakdown in the defensive zone to finish on his backhand.
The new-look lineup settled in as the game moved forward, and the difference was notable for Romanov — who has struggled greatly this season — in particular.
The Islanders will hope it is lasting.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
