Fifty years ago this week, the New York Islanders earned the first playoff series win in franchise history by upsetting the New York Rangers in a dramatic three-game set that cemented their rivalry as the fiercest in the tri-state area.
The golden anniversary matchup between the Islanders and Rangers will not be nearly as momentous Thursday night when two teams with nearly non-existent playoff hopes will square off for the final time this season, in Elmont, N.Y.
The Rangers won the first three games of the season series.
The Islanders last played on Tuesday, when they squandered a two-goal lead in the final three minutes of regulation and fell to the host Nashville Predators 7-6 in overtime.
The Rangers will complete a back-to-back set after they endured a disastrous third period in Wednesday night’s 8-5 loss to the visiting Philadelphia Flyers.
The losses were symbolic of how the season has spiraled downward for both the Islanders (34-32-11, 79 points) and Rangers (36-35-7, 79 points), each of whom are eight points behind the Montreal Canadiens in the race for the final Eastern Conference wild-card spot.
The Islanders have a game in hand on both the Canadiens and Rangers, which means they cannot be officially eliminated regardless of Thursday’s result. The Rangers will be eliminated with any loss.
The defeat Tuesday marked the third time this season the Islanders have squandered a multi-goal third-period lead. They have been outscored 94-83 after the second period and have surrendered 10 game-tying or go-ahead goals in the final three minutes of regulation.
The loss to the Predators was particularly frustrating for the Islanders, who scored twice in a span of 58 seconds in the third period to take a 6-4 lead with 3:41 left.
But Bo Horvat was whistled for tripping to set up Steven Stamkos’ power play goal with 2:07 remaining before Michael Bunting scored a 6-on-5 goal at 19:20. Fedor Svechkov completed the comeback by collecting the game-winner at 1:56 of overtime.
“We weren’t crisp all night, we weren’t at our best,” Horvat said. “But at the end of the day, we need to find a way to get those wins. We were up two with three minutes left. Got to find a way to get that done.”
The Rangers appeared as if they might salvage a wild-card berth out of a disappointing season on March 15, when they earned a 4-0 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets to maintain a one-point lead over the Canadiens in the race for the final playoff spot.
But the Rangers are just 3-7-1 since then, a span in which the Canadiens have gone 7-3-2.
The Rangers have lost their past three games; they’ve been outscored 17-6 by playoff-bound teams New Jersey and Tampa Bay as well as Philadelphia, which is in last place in the Metropolitan Division.
Philadelphia scored six third-period goals Wednesday — more goals than the Flyers scored in all but six of their first 77 games.
“We haven’t really helped ourselves — let’s be honest,” Rangers center Mika Zibanejad said after his four-point game went for naught Wednesday. “We haven’t really helped ourselves over the last couple weeks. We’ve been getting some chances, and I felt a couple of weeks ago like it was in our hands still to take care of the games that we had.”
–Field Level Media
