The New York Islanders completed their latest season sweep of the crosstown Rangers with a sleepy 2-1 win at Madison Square Garden. The win also represented a sweep of their home-and-home over the last 24 hours, and banked some important points in the run-up to the Olympic break.
As has often been the case this season, the Islanders played down to their competition, matching the energy of a quiet arena and a team that looks disinterested in bringing much to the table while its management intentionally
sits their most dangerous teammate in the name of another Garden tank.
The Islanders fourth line, with Max Shabanov back in the lineup due to Casey Cizikas being banged up, was the only one to really bring energy through the first two periods. And they were the ones who finally broke through on a fluke play with just under three minutes to go in the second.
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That goal came through a delicious connection: Carson Soucy, who was a Ranger just a few days ago but not long enough to let the Stench Of Ranger to sink into his pores, slapped a bad-angle puck as it bounced off the left wing boards that somehow squeaked through Jonathan Quick. Soucy had picked up the puck thanks to a shanked Shabanov pass, and the final bit of hilarity is that Scott Mayfield got the secondary assist, his 104th assist in 587 career regular season games.
Perhaps that broke the seal, at least briefly. Matthew Schaefer doubled the lead 95 seconds later, passing Bobby Orr among 18-year-olds with a no-doubter sizzling shot through a Simon Holmstrom block-out-the-sun screen.
Schaefer’s 14th goal means he now trails only Phil Housley (17) in the record books for goals by an 18-year-old defenseman.
That sent the Islanders to the third period with a 2-0 lead just a few minutes after it looked possible no one would score, or even bother to shoot, until the shootout forced someone to.
The third period did not include much more energy, though a little more angst since the Rangers scored on the power play with another Mika Zibanejad one-timer just under three minutes into the final period.
Tony DeAngelo tok a minor a few minutes after that, but the Islanders killed that one off. Still, this night highlighted a persistent, ugly reality about Islanders special teams: The power play sucks, and seems at a loss for ideas even on how to gain the zone.
That doesn’t seem possible — and shouldn’t be possible — with skaters like Schaefer and Mat Barzal and shooters like Bo Horvat and Emil Heineman at their disposal. Maybe the staff should spend the entire Olympic break redesigning the power play approach.
But that’s a lament for a night where it costs them the game; against the Rangers, it only cost them the chance to blow their rivals out.
For now, we can enjoy a season sweep and a home-and-home sweep of the Smurfs, and keeping pace with the Eastern Conference’s other flawed playoff contenders.
