Jonny Brodzinski scored the tiebreaking goal with 4:59 remaining in the second period as the host New York Rangers pulled away for a 5-2 victory over the New York Islanders on Sunday afternoon.
Nearly a month after rallying for a 6-5 overtime win at the Stadium Series in East Rutherford, the Rangers trailed briefly and gave a one-goal lead before scoring the final three goals in the first of three meetings between the teams in the final month of the regular season.
Will Cuylle and Mika Zibanejad scored goals in New York’s three-goal second half. The Rangers triumphed for the fifth time in six games and increased their record to 16-3-1 in their previous 20 games with goals from Kaapo Kakko and Alexis Lafreniere in the third.
The Islanders, who had won six straight games before their losing run of four games, were led by two goals each from Bo Horvat.
Igor Shesterkin, the goalie for New York, stopped 25 shots from his close buddy Ilya Sorokin, who gave up five goals on 31 attempts.
With 5:52 remaining in the first period, Horvat gave the Islanders a 1-0 lead with his second short-handed goal of the season. Horvat received a pass from Brock Nelson near the right side of the goal line and lifted the puck into the upper right corner of the net.
With 9:46 remaining, Cuylle gave the Rangers a 2-1 lead when, after a sluggish line change by the Islanders, he found himself open in the right circle and sent a shot past Sorokin. With 6:05 remaining, Horvat scored his second goal when he deflected a point shot from Mike Reilly and pushed the puck past Barclay Goodrow’s knees during their scramble for position near the net.
It was just over a minute until the Rangers took the lead again. When K’Andre Miller skated to the right corner to recover Alex Wennberg’s cross-ice pass, Brodzinski deflected his slap shot from the right circle over Sorokin’s left arm and into the front.
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