Collissions between New York Islanders and New York Rangers do not need any extra drama or intrigue.
But there will be plenty of both on Tuesday night, when the Islanders host Rangers for the first time this season in Elmont, new
Both teams were on Monday after playing Sunday. The islanders returned from the four nations’ facial outages with a loss of 4-3 to the visiting Dallas stars while Rangers completed a back-to-back road set by coming back to beat Pittsburgh Penguins 5-3.
The results on Sunday reached the urgency for the islanders, who have dropped three straight and are five points behind the Ottawa senators and Columbus Blue Jackets in the race for the last wild card in the Eastern Conference.
The islanders also slid three points behind Rangers, who are in the sole possession of 11th place in the east. The islands have a game in their hand on Rangers, Senators and Blue Jackets.
The islanders, who played Sunday for the first time since February 8, fell behind on Sam Steel’s goal 2:10 into the first period and were exceeded 9-8 in the opening 20 minutes before exceeding the stars 29-20 the rest of the way. But Dallas took control when Jason Robertson did twice in 95 seconds after New York’s Casey Cizikas was assessed a match penalty to deliver a check to the head of Lian Bichsel.
“Thought we played really good 50 minutes, to be honest,” said Islanders defender Tony Deangelo, who played four seasons with Rangers from 2017 to 2021. “It’s a shame. A game I thought we could at least get a point of.
Rangers may have prevented a crisis with a third period-back-back Sunday. After returning to Action Saturday with an 8-2 loss to Buffalo Sabers-The last place in the Eastern Conference-Rangers behind 3-2 when Penguins’ Ryan Shea did twice during the first 3:31 of the third.
Jimmy Vesey band The score at 4:21 and Adam Fox gathered the game winner with 8:34 left before JT Miller added an empty Neter in the last 10 seconds for Rangers, who won despite being outshot 39-16. The 16 shots were the smallest for Rangers in a victory since they had 16 shots in a 2-1 victory over Carolina Hurricanes on March 23, 2023.
“We have to win games right now, first and foremost,” said Rangers defender Ryan Lindgren, who helped Miller’s insurance goals. “But it’s not a recipe for winning games. We have another big on Tuesday (against) a team we are struggling with in the position right now. So yes, we have to play a much better, safe.”
Rangers won Sunday despite the last minute absence of left -wing wing Chris Kreider, who took warm -up before being scratched with an upper body injury.
The islanders, who received defender Scott Mayfield and Ryan Pulock back from injuries on Sunday, may be able to add another blueliner to the mix Tuesday when Noah Dobson is eligible to come out in the long term damaged reserve.
-Field level media
