The Upshot: NY Islanders lose to NY Rangers 5-2 and extend losing streak to four

HOW IT HAPPENED

In the words of head coach Patrick Roy, "I saw a team that played better than us today." The first-place NY Rangers took down the playoff-bubble NY Islanders handily at Madison Square Garden on St. Patrick's Day afternoon by a score of 5-2. Bo Horvat scored two goals for the Isles, the first being shorthanded while looking like one of the few players who had more energy than some of his foes. The Rangers, however, had scoring throughout their entire lineup, and only one player, K'Andre Miller, had more than one point in the five-goal output. Jonny Brodzinski scored the eventual game-winner in the second period, while the Rangers' young guns of Kaapo Kakko and Alexei Lafreniere put the game away in the third while leaving Isles fans searching for answers on whether consistency will ever come or not.

WHAT WENT RIGHT

If you ask fans, the only thing that matters when playing their cross-town rivals is a win, especially after the way their last matchup ended, and the Blue and Orange could not take down the Blueshirts. If there is one thing that fans cannot blame on the loss at the very least, it is their penalty kill. They only took one penalty in the first period from a Pierre Engvall holding the stick minor, and Horvat scored while the Islanders were down a man.

WHAT WENT WRONG

Just as they have the last few games, the Isles simply looked flat through 60 minutes. The streaky nature of this team makes itself apparent as their winning or losing streaks get longer, and the Islanders looked more like they did when they were under Lane Lambert's regime last night rather than Roy's. Players who took plenty of fire at the beginning of the season did not have good games, those being Anders Lee and Engvall. The goaltending battle was also not an even matchup this time around, and Ilya Sorokin did not look or perform at his best. He finished with 26 saves on 31 shots but a few of the Rangers goals should have been routine saves for him. On the other end, Igor Shesterkin stopped 25 of 27 and backed up the Garden's "Igor's better" chants at the end of the contest.

STATS FROM THE GAME

According to Eric Hornick in The Skinny:

• The Isles have outscored their opponents 59-38 in the first period (fewest allowed in NHL), but have been outscored 93-69 in the second period (most allowed in NHL) and 87-73 in the third period and overtime this season.

• Bo Horvat has a 6-5-11 stat line in eight March games; he also tied Brock Nelson for the club lead in goals after scoring twice against the Rangers.

• Horvat's first goal was the first shorthanded tally allowed by the Rangers at home this season; the Isles are now the only NHL team not to allow a SHG on home ice.

• Alex Romanov is the Isles' leader in +/- but went -4 for the first time in his career.

SOCIAL MEDIA MOMENT OF THE GAME

The Islanders hosted a watch party outside UBS Arena at "The Park." If only there was more for the fans to love after this moment.

WHAT'S NEXT

The Isles will face yet another challenge in their race for a playoff spot on Tuesday when they host the Carolina Hurricanes. Puck drop is at 7:30 PM.