The New York Rangers (17-18-7, 41 points) return home to Madison Square Garden for the first game of a home-and-home matchup vs. the New York Islanders (23-14-4, 50 points) attempting to snap a four-game losing streak. The Blueshirts — 3-5-2 in their last 10 games — lost on Tuesday, 4-2, vs. the Vegas Golden Knights in Sin City. A win tonight would be the team’s first in calendar year 2019. The Islanders — 8-2-0 in their last 10 games — also lost Tuesday, 4-3, vs. the Carolina Hurricanes. Prior to that defeat, the Isles had won six games in a row. A win tonight vs. the Rangers would put them back in a playoff picture whether it be third in the Metropolitan Division, assuming a loss by the Columbus Blue Jackets vs. Nashville, or somewhere in the Wild Card picture. Here is a look at the projected lines for both sides. New York Rangers Chris Kreider — Mika Zibanejad — Mats Zuccarello Filip Chytil — Ryan Strome — Jesper Fast Jimmy Vesey — Brett Howden — Vladislav Namestnikov Cody McLeod — Boo Nieves — Pavel Buchnevich Marc Staal — Neal Pionk Brady Skjei — Adam McQuaid Fredrik Claesson — Kevin Shattenkirk Henrik Lundqvist New York Islanders Anthony Beauvillier — Mathew Barzal — Josh Bailey Anders Lee — Brock Nelson — Jordan Eberle Michael Dal Colle — Valtteri Filppula — Leo Komarov Matt Martin — Casey Cizikas — Cal Clutterbuck Nick Leddy — Johnny Boychuk Adam Pelech — Ryan Pulock Devon Toews — Scott Mayfield Robin Lehner Kevin Hayes remains out of the lineup, and Fredrik Claesson comes back in for Tony DeAngelo. Here is what coach David Quinn had to say about the changes. #NYR Coach Quinn talks about takeaways from the road trip, the back-to-back matchups with the Islanders and lineup changes for tonight. pic.twitter.com/h66ENCvwWa — New York Rangers (@NYRangers) January 10, 2019 This is the third time the teams have met this season, with the Rangers having won 5-0 on November 21 at home, and the Islanders claiming victory in a 7-5 contest at the Barclays Center on November 15 when a quick moving snowstorm caused havoc for most of the Tri-state area. Both teams will square off again this Saturday January 12 in a 1:00 p.m. matinee at the Barclays Center. Enjoy the game!<doc-sep>The New York Rangers and New York Islanders met yet again this season, and while there wasn’t much hype surrounding this game, it ended up being a pretty entertaining game. The Islanders were able to find the game winning goal late in the third period, and it came on their only shot on goal of the period. 1-0 Rangers Ryan Strome (6) - Jimmy Vesey (12) & Filip Chytil (8) - 1:38 1st Period The Rangers started this game off pretty quickly as Cody McLeod drew an early penalty and sent the Rangers to the power play. Just 1:38 into regulation, Ryan Strome capitalized on a beautiful centering feed from Jimmy Vesey and snapped a shot past Robin Lehner. 1-1 Tie Mathew Barzal (13) - Johnny Boychuk (8) - 2:31 1st Period Unfortunately, that Rangers’ lead would only last a little under a minute as Mathew Barzal burned the Rangers on a transition play in the neutral zone. A poorly timed line change by the Rangers led to the opportunity, and Mathew Barzal tucked the puck under Henrik Lundqvist to make it a 1-1 game. 2-1 Islanders Jordan Eberle (9) - Anders Lee (17) & Mathew Barzal (27) - 8:51 1st Period A short time later, the Islanders took their first lead of the evening with a power play goal courtesy of Jordan Eberle. Mathew Barzal made his presence known once again and setup the one-timer chance for Eberle off to the left of Henrik Lundqvist. The puck appeared to take a slight deflection off of the defenseman on the shot, and created a bit of a change-up for Lundqvist as it slipped in behind him. 2-2 Tie Kevin Shattenkirk (2) - Frederick Claesson (3) - 1:11 2nd Period It took the Rangers some time to find the tying goal, but they finally jumped right back into the game with an early second period goal coming from Kevin Shattenkirk. The goal came off of a bit of a broken play in the right corner, and the puck slipped right out to Shattenkirk in the high slot. With plenty of traffic in front, Shattenkirk shoveled a shot on that deflected off of the crossbar and back in behind Robin Lehner to make it 2-2. 3-2 Islanders Anders Lee (16) - Nick Leddy (14) & Mathew Barzal (28) - 3:08 2nd Period Much like the first period, the Islanders almost immediately answered back on the power play to put the Islanders back out in front. The point shot by Nick Leddy wound up being deflected at the top of the crease by Anders Lee, and Henrik Lundqvist never even stood a chance. The puck was in and out of the net before Lundqvist could react, and the Islanders regained their one goal lead. 3-3 Tie Jesper Fast (7) - Neal Pionk (15) & Pavel Buchnevich (6) - 8:40 3rd Period Later on in the third period, the Rangers responded with an early goal by Jesper Fast that brought them back tied for the third time this game. A great individual effort by Jesper Fast in the high slot led to the chance, and he was able to chip a shot over Robin Lehner. Fast was able to lift the defenseman’s stick and get a shot off all in one motion, and suddenly the Rangers were right back in this game. 4-3 Islanders Josh Bailey (9) - Cal Clutterbuck (6) & Johnny Boychuk (9) - 18:34 3rd Period However, despite the Rangers completely controlling the third period, it took just a single shot for the Islanders to steal the game from right under the Rangers. A missed assignment by Neal Pionk led allowed the Islanders a slight window for a scoring chance, and they took full advantage of it. Cal Clutterbuck was able to find Josh Bailey wide open on the blown defensive coverage, and Bailey slammed home the chance to ice the game. Following tonight’s loss to the Islanders, they will have a scheduled off day tomorrow before closing out the home-and-home series against the Islanders on Saturday afternoon at Barclays Center.<doc-sep>This one hurt. The New York Rangers played hard and totally dominated the Islanders in the third period, but lost on the only shot on goal by the Isles in the period. This was the best game played by the New York Rangers in almost two weeks. Victimized yet again by ill-timed penalties, they lost on an Islander goal with a minute and a half left. What hurt even more is that in the third period they held the Islanders without a shot until the winning goal. There was bad blood from the get go in this game. Cody McLeod and Matt Martin almost squared off after the opening faceoff, then Ross Johnston tried to take on Cody McLeod only McLeod wanted no part of it. When Johston dropped his glove and McLeod skated away, the Islander too an early unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. This was just desserts for Johnston who was the Islander who goaded McLeod into the fight that resulted in a broken hand for the Ranger enforcer. The Rangers cashed in 1:20 into the power play and Ryan Strome put one into a wide open net on a feed from Jimmy Vesey. It was the second power play unit of Strome, Vesey and Chytil that made the play. As usual, the lead didn’t last long. Matt Barzal got past the defense for a breakaway and tucked a backhand shot under Lundqvist’s legs. The Rangers’ nemesis took advantage of a bad change to streak into the zone less than a minute after Strome’s goal. Six minutes later, the actioned heated up when Matt Martin took on McLeod in retaliation for a hard check McLeod threw at Casey Cizikas. They threw a lot of punches, but not many connected and it became a hugging match. 20 seconds after the fight, Jimmy Vesey got called for tripping Anthony Beauvillier, negating a semi-breakaway by Vlad Namestnikov. The penalty kill failed once again and Jordan Eberle scored on a wide open shot from the faceoff circle. The puck appeared to deflect slightly off Neal Pionk and it went into the net under Lundqvist’s arm. There was no more damage and the two teams exchanged chances. The period ended with the Isles leading 2-1 and ahead in shots 10-8. The Rangers came out in the second period and scored early. Kevin Shattenkirk took a quick shot on a pass from Fredrik Claesson who was in deep. I’ll say that again, Kevin Shattenkirk too a quick shot and put it past a screened Robin Lehner. Tie game. 27 second later Marc Staal took a holding penalty (marginal) against Matt Barzal and sure enough, the Islanders took the lead again on the power play. Nick Leddy took a slapshot from the blueline with Anders Lee providing a screen and getting the deflection. During the intermission Steve Valiquette did a detailed breakdown in defense of the Rangers’ penalty killers and the issue was the Rangers could never get to the puck, not the defensive structure. The Islanders held it in the Rangers’ zone for a full minute and a half and the defenders were exhausted when the goal was scored. From that point it was a fairly evenly played period and the Rangers had to kill a Namestnikov hooking penalty. The Rangers were outshot 9-5 in the second period, 19-13 for the game. The third period was a completely different story. They stormed the Islander zone and won all of the puck battles. At the 3:03 mark of the third period, Strome was hooked on a break-in and the Rangers got their second power play. After Robin Lehner made a great save on a one-timer by Zibanejad, Leo Komarov was called for dislodging the net. The Rangers had a two man advantage for 44 seconds and they could do nothing on that advantage. The Rangers’ inability to win a faceoff in the attack zone just killed them. The power play did give the Rangers some life and Lehner made a great glove save on Buchnevich after the penalty was over. They kept up the offensive pressure and the Jesper Fast tied the game at 8:40 when he was able to get a puck mid-air and it bounced into the Islanders’ goal. You gotta see this Fast goal from every angle! #NYR pic.twitter.com/f57VYnvRcz — MSG Networks (@MSGNetworks) January 11, 2019 At this point the Rangers were outshooting the Isles 7-0. The Rangers maintained the pressure and came close, but couldn’t get the go ahead goal. They held the Isles to no shots on goal for the first 18:34. That’s when Josh Bailey got the Islanders first shot on net in the period and of course it went in. There was a breakdown in the Ranger zone when Bailey got past Neal Pionk, took the pass from Cal Clutterbuck and slammed it home. So, the losing streak is now at five games. The efforts are getting better, but the final result was the same.<doc-sep>David Quinn repeated the line, either for emphasis or because it had consumed his thoughts. “We can’t let them win two games tonight,” the Rangers coach said after his team allowed a late goal and lost 4-3 to the Islanders on Thursday night at the Garden, the first of a home-and-home that concludes Saturday afternoon at Barclays Center. “We can’t let them win two games tonight.” Quinn’s voice was rough and his players were distraught. The morale was low as the Blueshirts took Friday off after having lost five in a row, in a mode in which they are exploring different ways to find themselves in defeat. They dominated the third period, but the one shot the Islanders got in the final 20 minutes went in, a tap-in from Josh Bailey with 1:26 remaining in regulation to give the road team the victory. There is a sense Quinn and his team know the season is slipping away, if it hasn’t done exactly that already. That hopeful optimism that existed before Thanksgiving with a fantastical run of 9-1-1 has disappeared. Since then, the Rangers are 5-11-5, and their 12 wins in regulation or overtime are the fewest in the NHL. Yet in a season of bad losses, Thursday’s is one of the toughest — if not the toughest — to swallow. “We have a lot to compare it to because we’ve had some heartbreaking losses, but that’s right up there,” Quinn said. “It might be at the top of the list.” These Rangers are young, so it’s to be expected they’re not the most mentally tough group in the league. At times, they have shown resilience in the face of adversity. At other times, they have let bad things snowball. There is a fragility to their collective mindset. But this is about as bad as things have gotten all year, and it comes at a crucial time. Even if there were a more pragmatic look at this rebuilding season lodged somewhere in the back of Quinn’s mind, he still knows it’s important not to let his team crumble. If development is the point of this campaign, developing young players in a downtrodden environment is hardly beneficial. “We felt a critical time is when we got back from Christmas,” Quinn said. “I think probably every team felt that way because the league is so tight. The stretch between Christmas and everybody’s [bye-weeks] really makes or breaks your season in a lot of ways. “We’ve obviously put ourselves in a difficult position in the last week, where now it’s really make or break for us here over the next 10 days. These are pivotal games. When you get deep into the season, every game takes on a different level of importance.” So now Quinn has to lead this team into Brooklyn, into a building in which the Rangers have never won in seven attempts since the Islanders moved in at the start of the 2015-16 season. This could very well be the final meeting between these two teams as intracity rivals, with the Islanders’ full-time move back to the Coliseum a real possibility for the next two seasons before they settle into their new building at Belmont Park in 2021-22 (if there’s no lockout). But just as this rivalry has seemingly become one that only carries strong emotion for the fans and not so much the players, so is there an apathy toward the venue. “Honestly, I haven’t really thought about it,” said Islanders forward Matt Martin, a veteran from when these games were far more passionate on the ice. “There’s so much uncertainty about next season that I don’t think we really think about it.” Surely the Rangers have a lot more to think about when they arrive on Atlantic Avenue than some bygone record. But the one thing they won’t be forgetting is their own desperate malaise, which can only get worse if Quinn was right and the hangover from Thursday night’s heartbreak carries over. “We have to work hard at the mental part of this and work past it,” Quinn said. “We can not let this get in the way of our performance on Saturday.”<doc-sep>
Mats Zuccarello was trying not to curse. He really was. But the way his Rangers lost Thursday night, the game-winning goal in a 4-3 defeat to the Islanders at the Garden coming on the only shot allowed in all of the third period, well, that’s a tough one to swallow. And considering Josh Bailey’s tally with 1:26 left in regulation handed the Rangers their fifth loss in a row doesn’t make it any easier. “We played two really good games,” Zuccarello said, referring to the 4-2 loss at Vegas on Tuesday that ended a pointless three-game western swing, “but at the end of the day, I’d rather play a sh–ty game and get two points. But right now, we can’t seem to find a way to win. When you’re in a tough stretch, that’s how it goes. I wish I had the answer.” There is no real answer for these Rangers (17-19-7), who continue to work hard, but continue to make crucial, backbreaking mistakes. Their woeful penalty kill continues to be no help. The Islanders (24-14-4) scored two power-play goals on three chances to give them their seventh win in the past eight games, also their 10th victory in the last 12. “We’re peaking at the right time and playing our best hockey,” Bailey said. “You’re going to have those moments when you’re not at your best, but in those moments, you find good teams around the league find a way to win.” This hardly felt like a big rivalry game as in years past, with tempers rather cool despite an early dustup from Matt Martin and Cody McLeod. It was more a back-and-forth affair — until the Rangers pinned the Islanders for all of the third period, outshooting them 17-1. But that lonely number on the right side of the ledger was the one that mattered, with Bailey able to finish a nice cross-ice feed from Cal Clutterbuck that goalie Henrik Lundqvist wasn’t able to read in time. “I just didn’t pick it up,” said Lundqvist, who returned from being pulled in each of his previous two starts to give up four goals on 20 shots. “Maybe I can read it better, come across with my body. But I felt like I was late coming across. I wish I could sit here and have the answers. It’s too bad.” The first time the Garden crowd woke up was when Jesper Fast tied the score, 3-3, at 8:40 of the third, batting a flying puck out of the air and past goalie Robin Lehner. The Blueshirts kept coming, too, but Lehner ended up putting aside 16 shots in the final 20 minutes and registering 27 saves total to earn his seventh straight win. He was also a big part of the Islanders’ penalty kill, which negated the Rangers’ 55-second five-on-three man-advantage and the following 65-second five-on-four early in the third period. “To me, we won the game on special teams,” Islanders coach Barry Trotz said. The Rangers actually opened the game with a power-play goal from Ryan Strome at 1:38 of the first, but the lead was short-lived, as Mathew Barzal scored on a breakaway just 53 seconds later to make it 1-1. Kevin Shattenkirk collected his second goal of the season in the second period, but it was sandwiched by power-play goals from Jordan Eberle and Anders Lee to give the Isles a 3-2 lead going into the third. That’s when the Rangers began to dominate — until they lost. And that’s the feeling they’ll be taking into the second game of this home-and-home on Saturday afternoon at Barclays Center, where the Rangers have never won. “We can’t seem to find a way to win. We find a way to lose instead,” Zuccarello said. “It’s tough to swallow. I don’t know what to say, it’s not fun.”