Islanders vs. Rangers Winners-Losers: Yet another flat performance

“Don’t do that again.” That was the single thought in every New York Islanders mind after the team’s 3-2 shootout win over the Philadelphia Flyers last night. With no effort after the opening eight minutes, the Isles were lucky to get away with two points.

Another effort like that and the Islanders will certainly find themselves with an L against the Rangers.

As you likely know now, that’s exactly what happened. How the Islanders failed to show up for a home game against the Rangers after a bad effort the previous night is beyond me. That three-day break on Monday can’t come soon enough for this team.

New York Islanders poor effort cost them points against New York Rangers

Winners

Andy Greene (1G, 4SOG): First regular-season goal for Andy Greene was the first and only source of life for the Isles. It didn’t last, but it was a much-needed jolt to get something for this one.

This was only the tenth goal by an Islanders d-man. It’s unbelievable that the Isles blueline only has ten goals on the year. Ryan Pulock usually has that many all on his own.

Mathew Barzal (1A, 2SOG, 1 Hit): It was a nice pass from Mathew Barzal for his first point in his two games. But that was about it.

He and Eberle got a shift with Kyle Palmieri but more of that will have to come quickly. While Leo has done well enough, he’s just not enough for that top-line role.

Brock Nelson (0.22 GS): When I don’t really know where to go I default to game score. With the way the Isles played today it’s hard to find a third winner so Brock Nelson is the third winner for having the third-highest game score after Greene and Barzal for the Isles today.

Losers

The third line: Zajac-Pageau-Palmieri were not very effective tonight with a 37.49 xGF% and a flat 50 CF% not to mention two of the three going -2 on the night, they were easily one of the worst lines tonight. Maybe putting two new guys to learn on the fly isn’t really working.

Semyon Varlamov (3GA, 32 saves, 0.914SV%): It was not a great night for Semyon Varlamov. Sure, his team let him out to dry for most of the game but you can blame him on at least two of the Rangers goals tonight. I doubt he’s in net on Sunday.

Nick Leddy (-1.65GS): The Isles veteran d-man was absolutely terrible tonight. A 1.14 xGA and 0.41 xGF tells you everything you need to know about Nick Leddy‘s game tonight.

(All Game Score stats from Hockey Stats Cards.)