NHL: New York Rangers at New York Islanders
UNIONDALE, N.Y. (77 WABC) – On Monday night it was Artemi Panarin who burned the New York Islanders. On Thursday night on Long Island, it was Chris Kreider who broke the Islanders hearts.
Kreider buried a rebound in front of the net with 24.6 seconds left in the game to lift the New York Rangers to a 3-2 win over the Islanders. The winning goal came with the Rangers on the power play and after Semyon Varlamov had made an initial stop on a shot from Mika Zibanejad.
“It obviously feels pretty good,” Kreider said. “Thats a really good team over there. This has always been a tough building to play in, even going back before the renovation. I thought they were really structured tonight. Didnt give us a whole lot of space. Had to be patient and really work for our chances tonight.”
Down the hall, the mood was much different in the Islanders dressing room, especially for forward Derick Brassard. The current Islanders, and former Ranger, had taken a cross-checking penalty with 54 seconds left in the third to send the visitors from Manhattan to the man advantage.
A frustrated Brassard lamented about the call in his stall in front of the assembled media.
“I still cant believe that was a call there in the corner,” Brassard said. “Its not a good feeling we just lost a game. It was a really good hockey game and they call that with a minute left. The ref in the corner had nothing, but the guy in the neutral zone deciding to call that. It is what it is, but it was just a good hockey game. Its too bad it ended up like that.”
Thursdays affair had a nostalgic feeling to it with the Islanders and Rangers facing off with one another for the first time at Nassau Coliseum since March 10, 2015. The battle for New York hockey supremacy had been played at Barclays Center since the Islanders moved to the Brooklyn venue at the start of the 2015-16 season.
With nearly five years passing since the last time New Yorks two hockey clubs met on Long Island, only Henrik Lundqvist, Marc Staal, Jesper Fast, Micheal Haley and Kreider played at the Nassau Coliseum before Thursday.
“Its still one of the few buildings where you can hear the fans from the locker room and thats pretty exciting. Its a fun place to play,” Kreider said.
And the game lived up to the hype, as the two fanbases jeered and taunted one another in a sold-out Coliseum. A noticeably stronger police and security presence was visible around the concourse as well.
On the ice, the Islanders and Rangers duked it out as the two sides try to pick up crucial points in the standings.
Josh Bailey scored the games opening goal with 51 seconds left in the first period. The Rangers turned the puck over behind their net allowing Tom Kuhnhackl to move the puck towards the front of the net, where it eventually found Bailey.
After the Rangers were able to withstand 22 shots on net in the first, Zibanejad tied the game at one with a power-play goal at 12:46 of the second. Tony DeAngelo was able to score at 4:16 of the third just after exiting the penalty box and streaking down the ice.
DeAngelo fired the puck past the right shoulder of Varlamov to put the Rangers in front 2-1.
Anthony Beauvillier tied the game back up at two at 12:40 of the third.
“Just a real gutsy effort by our guys,” Rangers coach David Quinn said. “We knew they would come out hard in the first period and they put the heat on us. Got out of it 1-0 and really thought we got back to the way weve been playing in the second period. Our special teams were huge. We got two power-play goals, our penalty kill was immense. … Just a ballsy effort.”
