Rangers 3*, Islanders 2 (*SO): Smurfs inch by via shootout in possible playoff preview

Except there’s no shootout in the playoffs, so this last part was an exercise in coin flippery.

The New York Islanders’ six-game win streak came to an end at the World’s Most Self-Congratulatory Arena, at the hands of a possible first-round playoff opponent, but the regulation point the Isles picked up in the shootout loss brought them one step closer to actually getting to the postseason.

It was a goalie battle, and an afternoon where the Islanders’ power play (now without the injured “day to day” Noah Dobson) was typically terrible and minus-one, but overall it was a close, intense game that bodes well if it’s a preview of the first round of the playoffs. Ilya Sorokin’s sharp showing was good to see, as Semyon Varlamov has been the hotter hand lately.

That is all still to be determined, however. The Isles’ job is not done, the Smurfs haven’t yet clinched the division, so who makes it and what the first-round pairings are remain up in the air, with the Capitals, Red Wings and Penguins all in action later in the day to help further shape but not finalize the variables.

[NHL Gamecenter | Game Summary | Event Summary | Natural Stat Trick]

First Period: Playoff-like

The first period had that playoff-like mix of intensity and controlled calm-it-down reactions to moments of chaos. With a different mix of bounces, it could’ve been 3-1 but the goalies helped keep it scoreless.

With the President’s Trophy in their sights, the Rangers came out with great jump, and the Islanders looked slow, chasing elusive pucks and opponents around their zone. Ilya Sorokin was really sharp in the early going to keep things scoreless, including a point-blank stop on Adam Fox after a loose puck caromed to him.

By the midway point of the period, the Isles had settled down considerably and started to get some methodical possession and decent looks at the Rangers net. Without Noah Dobson, Sebastian Aho was doing good work as a left-shooting defenseman keeping the puck in at the right point. Initially outshot 6 or 7-1, they tipped the scales back and were outshooting the Smurfs 9-7, with Igor Shesterkin called on for a couple of good saves.

But on an extended shift in the Isles zone, Mike Reilly gave the Rangers dome daylight by taking a holding penalty behind the net. The host team worked the puck well, but Sorokin kept them from breaking through.

With three minutes left, it was the Isles’ turn for a power play after Mat Barzal drew a hold during a good shift in the offensive zone. That meant the second unit began the power play, retaining possession but unable to get a shot off in the face of good Rangers’ PK pursuit. With the first unit on, the best chance came in the wrong direction, a Rangers shorthanded 2-on-1 that Sorokin stared down.

With 29 seconds left, Kaapo Kakko high-sticked Robert Bortuzzo, drawing blood and the double-minor that comes with it. The Isles didn’t generate anything in the half minute at the end of the period, but it gave them something to plan for entering the second.

Second Period: Good ol’ powerless play; Brocktober in April

It should surprise no one that the Isles generated nothing on the power play but self-inflicted wounds. They had one good combo play with a shot from the slot, but not before Ryan Lindgren had a clear-cut shorthanded breakaway after a sneaky Rangers line change.

Sorokin stopped that, and the Isles actually got 15 seconds of 5-on-3 when Lidgren hit Barzal from behind in the corner. After things returned to 5-on-4, the Rangers pounced for a shorthanded goal, sending numbers on a rush. J-G Pageau hustled back to make it a 2-on-2, but Braden Schneider followed as an uncovered trailer, and he scored on the rebound of his own uncontested shot.

It looked like the Islanders equalized right away with a great one-time shot by Pierre Engvall, but the Rangers challenged for offside and won the challenge. There wasn’t a clear view of the play on the broadcast — Engvall’s body obscured when Kyle Palmieri was pushed across the blueline by Barclay Goodrow— but all indirect evidence pointed to an offside entry.

The Isles did not let their horrible power play nor their misfortune deflate them, however. Engvall continued to generate great looks with Anders Lee, and then the Brock Nelson-Palmieri connection bore fruit when Nelson swatted from the side of the net, shot his own rebound from below the goal line, and a prone and scrambling Shesterkin paddled the puck across the line to tie it at 1-1.

With time winding down, the other member of that line, Hudson Fasching, combined with Nelson to give the Isles a 2-1 lead. While ABC/ESPN was dwelling once again on the Rangers’ lone Stanley Cup win in the last 83 years and acting with confused shock that the President’s Trophy winner falls short of the Cup more often than not, the Isles interrupted their narrative when Nelson pounced on the loose puck created by Fashing’s wraparound try.

The goals were Nelson’s 31st and 32nd of the season, sending his team to the intermission with a narrow lead.

Third Period: Bent, then broke

The Isles survived the Rangers’ early push and settled things down at 5-on-5. Shesterkin robbed Fasching on a golden chance at the doorstep after a Rangers turnover below the goal line. Then the Islanders’ momentum-killing power play went to “work” after a Lindgren trip of Nelson.

If nothing else, the unsuccessful power play killed some clock, though also deepening the Isles’ debt on the penalty ledger, which was sure to come due at an inopportune time.

Once again, the Isles followed the putrid power play with some sweet chances at 5-on-5, but Pageau was stopped twice in tight by Shesterkin.

In a truly bizarre sequence, Adam Pelech had a breakaway and was hooked by a defending Artemi Panarin. Panarin lost his stick as he tried to plead innocence, and Pelech got a shot off as Panarin followed through with the body. Pelech was awarded a penalty shot and handled it about how you’d expect from a defensive defenseman.

When he started off slow and winding, I held an outside hope that Pelech might have some secret, never-used, end-of-practice shootout trick up his sleeve. But no. Just a straight-on shot into Shesterkin’s body.

Before the Rangers could begin to ponder pulling Shesterkin for a sixth attacker, they got the equalizer on a nifty faceoff play. Vincent Trocheck won it directly back, and Panarin came in from the left wing to take the puck and unleash a shot in one movement from the top of the circle. It was a perfect shot, through traffic and nailing the postage stamp corner of the net.

The Isles responded well, and Cizikas even put one off Shesterkin’s blocker and off the crossbar with two minutes to go. Ryan Pulock also had a blast from the blueline that Shesterkin stopped and angled out of play.

Extra Time: Welp.

In overtime, Trocheck had a golden chance on a 2-on-1 with net open and Sorokin going into full splits, dropping his stick and stretching his blocker across the net in desperation. But Trocheck’s shot missed the net completely.

Nelson and Palmieri had a 2-on-1 late in OT, Nelson keeping the puck and taking the shot and being stopped. Shesterkin also gloved Barzal’s shot from the left wing with 7 seconds remaining.

In the shootout, Panarin beat Sorokin with a move while Palmieri hit the post. Sorokin stopped MIka Zibanejad and Shesterkin stopped Nelson. Trocheck then beat Sorokin, making a third Isles shooter moot.

Up Next

So it’s down to two games: Monday in Newark, then Tuesday at home vs. the Penguins, who may be playing for all the marbles depending on how tonight and the next few days go.