NEW YORK _ Rangers-Islanders is always going to be big, regardless of where either team is in the standings. And those games are always going to be bigger in NYCB Live's Nassau Coliseum than anywhere else. But the games are always better when both teams need a win, as both did Thursday night.
Chris Kreider is one of only three Rangers who had played in this building before, and Kreider delivered big-time for the Rangers when he banged in the rebound of a shot by Mika Zibanejad on the power play with 24.6 seconds to play to give the Rangers a stunning 3-2 victory over the Isles, their second win over their rivals this week.
Former Ranger Derick Brassard took a cross-checking penalty against Jesper Fast with 53.5 seconds remaining and Kreider punished his old teammate and the Islanders by scoring his 16th goal of the season to give the Rangers (23-19-4) their fourth win in the last five games.
Tony DeAngelo, who had just stepped out of the penalty box, picked up a loose puck in the neutral zone and scored his 12th goal to put the Rangers ahead, 2-1, at 4:16 of the third period. But Islanders forward Anthony Beauvillier, with the teams skating four-on-four thanks to coincidental minor penalties to Casey Cizikas and Artemi Panarin, tied the score at 2 with his 12th goal with 7:20 left.
It was the Rangers' first game at the Coliseum since March 10, 2015, and only three of their players _ not including former Islander Ryan Strome _ had worn the Blueshirt uniform in the old building on Hempstead Turnpike. For Jericho native and rookie defenseman Adam Fox, it was his first game in the old barn, after having gone to games there as a youngster.
But all that aside, the Rangers, who began the night eight points out of the last playoff spot, had business to take care of, and they knew they weren't going to have the same kind of result as they did on Monday, when they steamrollered the Islanders, 6-2, at Madison Square Garden.
Fortunately for the Rangers, goaltender Alexandar Georgiev (38 saves), starting his second straight game, was ready for everything the Islanders would throw at him. The 23-year-old Russian had made 32 saves in Monday's game, and he carried a 3-1 record, with a shutout, a 1.21 goals-against average and a .957 save percentage against the Islanders into the game.
And he was sharp early on _ and had to be.
The Islanders outshot the Rangers, 22-6, in the opening period, yet managed only a 1-0 lead when Josh Bailey capitalized on a mistake by Jacob Trouba to score his second goal in as many games, with 51 seconds left in the period.
Trouba, heading back to play a puck off the end boards, whiffed on it as he tried to flick it to the corner and Tom Kuhnhackl picked it up and played it to the low slot, where Ross Johnston flubbed a shot. But the puck trickled back to Bailey, who had no defender anywhere near him and was able to fire it home from point-blank range.
But the Rangers found their legs in the second period, and dominated possession for most of it, finally tying the score on a goal by Zibanejad at 12:46.
The Rangers were on a power play at the time, and the referees didn't see the puck cross the goal line, but the play was reviewed on video at the next stoppage, and TV replays showed that Zibanejad whacked at the puck and Islanders defenseman Ryan Pulock cleared it off the line with his hand, but not before the entire puck had crossed the goal line.
