There haven’t been many Battles of New York in recent memory with as many playoff implications as the last couple games between the Rangers and Islanders.
And for the second time in a week, the Blueshirts asserted themselves in the Eastern Conference postseason race with a definitive 4-0 victory over the Islanders — one of several teams they are vying against for a playoff spot — to move into a tie with the Red Wings for the second wild-card spot.
Whichever way this one went, it was going to have significant meaning for the winner.
The fact that it was the second-to-last game before the trade deadline for both teams only added to the magnitude.
The Islanders were three points behind the Blueshirts coming into the game, with just a single point separating the six closest teams looking from the outside in on the postseason bracket.
That gap ballooned to five as the Rangers picked up their fourth win in their past five games.
In a showdown between the two star New York goaltenders, the Rangers’ Igor Shesterkin came out on top of the Islanders’ Ilya Sorokin with a 20-save performance to give his team two shutouts in a row after Jonathan Quick posted one the night before.
It was a solid all-around performance from the Rangers, who were competing on the second night of a back-to-back schedule.
Islanders head coach Patrick Roy opted to go with 11 forwards and seven defensemen, scratching forwards Pierre Engvall and Anthony Duclair.
They have lost seven of the past eight meetings with the Rangers.
The Rangers weren’t exactly a force through the first 20 minutes, but they still came away with a 2-0 lead after some puck luck and a shorthanded opportunity.
It was technically the Islanders who found the back of the net first, however, when captain Anders Lee snuck one past Rangers goalie Igor Shesterkin off a tough angle.
The Rangers challenged for offside and were successful, keeping the game scoreless with 8:24 left in the frame.
Zac Jones’ shot then deflected into the air and bounced off Will Cuylle’s helmet and in to open up the scoring for real.
Earning a secondary assist on the play, J.T. Miller extended his point streak to six games.
The Rangers were called for too many men on the ice for the second time in the period, giving them the second most in the league this season at nine.
Sam Carrick led a shorthanded rush and dropped the puck for Will Borgen, who lasered one bar down for the 2-0 lead.
After keeping the Islanders at bay through the second period, Miller added another to make it a 3-0 game on a shot from the right circle.
It gave him his second straight two-point game, after he earned a secondary assist on Cuylle’s score earlier in the night.
Miller has posted six two-point efforts and 14 points (seven goals, seven assists) in his first 11 games back with the Rangers.
Artemi Panarin’s empty-netter with over five minutes left in regulation iced the game.
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