Islanders continue to give Rangers trouble with 4-2 win
NEW YORK -- John Tavares set up Nikolay Kulemin for the winning short-handed goal 3:03 into the third period as the New York Islanders continued their recent success over the New York Rangers with a 4-2 victory on Thursday night.
The Islanders began the third period killing off a double-minor high sticking penalty by Josh Bailey, whose stick drew blood on Rangers defenseman Ryan McDonagh with nine seconds left in the second period.
After spending the opening minutes in their defensive end, the Islanders took a 3-1 lead thanks to some tenacity from Tavares. His shot from close range stopped by Henrik Lundqvist, but he maintained possession.
The puck trickled behind the net and Tavares fed Kulemin with a nifty no-look pass for a 3-1 lead.
Anders Lee and Andrew Ladd scored second-period goals for the Islanders, who are 6-1 in their last seven meetings with the Rangers. The Islanders also are 4-0 against their rivals since moving from Nassau Coliseum after the 2014-15 season.
Ladd also added an empty-net goal with 70 seconds remaining.
Nick Holden and rookie Jimmy Vesey scored for the Rangers, who had a season-high six-game winning streak stopped.
Thomas Greiss made 25 saves for the Islanders and Lundqvist finished with 19 stops for the Rangers.
The Rangers took a 1-0 lead on their first shot when Holden finished off an odd-man rush with Mats Zuccarello at 6:23 of the first period.
Zuccarello carried the puck into the slot after getting the pass from defenseman Brady Skjei. As Islanders defenseman Scott Mayfield fell to the ice, Zuccarello dished the puck across the slot to Holden and the play ended with a wrist shot over the stick side from the low left slot.
The Islanders tied it 2:43 into the second on Lee's 22nd goal of the season. Tavares faked a shot to get Lundqvist turned around and fed Lee, who was parked alone to Lundqvist's right.
Lee then gained possession and swept a backhander under into a partially vacated net before Lundqvist could completely get back in position for the save.
Nearly four minutes later, the Islanders took the 2-1 lead because of an alert play by Stephen Gionta to wrest possession from the Rangers. The puck trickled around the net after Nick Leddy's shot was blocked by Rangers defenseman Marc Staal.
Lundqvist hesitated in deciding not to play the puck from behind the net and Staal attempted to clear it. Gionta raced in, checked Staal from behind to force the turnover and passed the puck from behind the net toward Ladd, who buried a wrist shot from the doorstep under Lundqvist's pads.
NOTES: Islanders D Travis Harmonic (lower body) skated for the first time on Thursday morning since getting being placed on injured reserve Jan. 12. ... Rangers RW Pavel Buchnevich was a healthy scratch for the first time in his career. Buchnevich had two goals and four assists in his first four games back from missing two months with a back injury but only has one assist in his last 10 games. ... C Shane Prince (upper body) and RW Cal Clutterbuck (lower body) also sat out for the Islanders. ... Rangers D Kevin Klein (flu) was a game-time decision and wound up sitting out. Asked about the ice issues at Barclays Center, Rangers coach Alain Vigneault said, "You have ice issues in a lot of buildings, that's just the reality the NHL today. It is something that depending on the weather outside, the humidity, some ices aren't good for five, six minutes. Some others are better than others. It's part of the NHL. It's the same for both teams and we'll just deal with it."