The Rangers’ quest to win the President’s Trophy just got a little easier.
And the Islanders’ path to the playoffs seems inevitable.
After a loss to the Islanders earlier this week, the Rangers got some revenge at home on Saturday afternoon, with the Isles winning 3-2 in overtime and moving into the postseason with a three-point lead over the Hurricanes in the Metropolitan Division. I didn’t give them a chance to get the rights. Vincent Trocheck’s game-winner set a new franchise record for regular season wins with 54 wins.
But the game felt like a victory for the visiting team, even though the streak ended at six, as the Islanders earned the loser’s point to extend their playoff berth to four points with two games left in the season.
This game will require the kind of third period the Rangers have specialized in this season, where they take a lead in the second period and rally back.
For much of the afternoon, the Rangers looked like they were a step behind at even strength, either staying in the offensive zone for long periods of time or struggling to gain momentum against a bottom-six team that turned it around on a great afternoon. .
The Isles had a golden chance to extend their lead to two points with 6:56 remaining after Artemi Panarin beat Adam Pelech on a breakaway, giving the defenseman a penalty shot.
However, a glove save by Igor Shesterkin kept the match at 2-1. It was the exclamation point of an afternoon in which Shesterkin and Ilya Sorokin both gave classic performances.
But just over 2 minutes and 30 seconds later, Panarin beat another Russian netminder and fired a wrist shot from the top of the left circle after a faceoff, tying the game at two.
That ended a tense five minutes in which both teams traded chances, culminating in Shesterkin’s glove save on Matt Barzal with seven seconds left, which turned into a contest of skills.
Shah Starkin had the last laugh here, stopping his 33 saves with just a few more.
Similar to Tuesday’s game on Long Island, the Islanders had an early 5-on-5 advantage, but their special teams blew away their chances.
The difference was that instead of doing it on the penalty kill Saturday, they did it on their own power play.
Thanks to back-to-back penalties by the Rangers, including a double minor, the second period started with a straight 5-on-4 for the visitors with 5:07 to play.
Not only did the Islanders, without Noah Dobson (upper body), make just two shots and had no dangerous chances, but Braden Schneider followed up on his own rebound 4:33 into the period. He potted one and allowed a shorthanded goal.
Once the game returns to 5-on-5, the Islanders could start to gain momentum.
Brock Nelson, who had only scored one goal since March 11, broke out of a scoring drought and tied the game with an acrobatic save from Shesterkin and a rebound from Kyle Palmieri.
Before the period ended, Nelson finished Hudson Fassing’s wraparound pass to the left circle to give the Islanders the lead.
But the Islanders’ habit of playing with food all season and then going hungry returned, and their chances of making the playoffs came down to the final two games of the regular season.
The Isles entered the day with a three-point lead for third place in the Metropolitan Division, and no matter what happened late in the night, they weren’t going to lose that spot.
But the loss showed the club’s margin for error in a playoff race that has so far had every conceivable twist and turn.
With Dobson’s status in jeopardy as the regular season ends and his winning streak snapped at six, the Islanders will need to stop the upset if they are to finish the job.
