Islanders Beat Rangers In Sloppy Fashion (Highlights)

The New York Islanders somehow beat the New York Rangers in a shootout. It was a win, but an ugly one at best.

This game started off well for the New York Islanders. They scored their first power-play goal of the year just 2:40 into the game to snap their previous 0-for-20 streak. It was Anders Lee who was able to beat Henrik Lundqvist for his third goal of the season.

The Rangers were able to quickly respond with a goal from David Desharnais to draw the score even at one goal apiece. It seemed like at the time this one had 6-5 finish written all over it.

Although, the Islanders would pull away with the momentum after the Desharnais goal. Brock Nelson netted his fourth of the year to give the Isles the lead.

The second period was filled with Islanders momentum. Jaroslav Halak was making big save after big save, and then Mathew Barzal finally broke through with his first career goal. Here’s a look at his goal:

Barzal was able to show off his speed there and beat Hank. Mat was easily the best player on the ice for the Isles tonight as he had numerous other opportunities that ended with near goals.

The third period is when the wheels fell off for the Isles. It was shades of the 2016 Jack Capuano Islander teams.

They took their foot off the gas, and let the Rangers get right back in the game off of awful turnovers. The first one from Anders Lee sparked a goal from Mats Zuccarello.

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The game appeared to be tied on a Brendan Smith goal but the refs reviewed the play and noticed that Smith, in fact, kicked the puck into the net negating the initial call on the ice. As everyone expected, the Rangers would tie it up for real shortly after thanks to Kevin Hayes.

Sixty minutes wasn’t enough for these two mediocre teams. In overtime, the Islanders controlled a lot of possession but struggled to get shots off. Thanks to a too many men on the ice penalty the Isles had a power play to finish off the OT period.

Unfortunately, the Isles were unable to get anything going on the power play (shocking) and it headed to a shootout.

The Rangers sent out Zucc to start and he got a real softy past Halak. Halak got a large chunk of the puck but it then dribbled into the net as if it was traveling in slow motion.

Jordan Eberle and John Tavares would score for the Islanders and it was left to Halak to save the game. He was able to make the save against David Desharnais and the game finally, came to an end.

Next: Islanders vs Rangers Game Thread

A win is a win, but this one was extremely ugly. Josh Ho-Sang had some bad turnovers and was punished for nearly the entire third period and the overtime period. It really exposed some of the Islanders glowing flaws. They play San Jose on Saturday.