Rangers can’t hold two-goal lead, lose preseason finale to Islanders

Igor Shesterkin’s 33-save performance wasn’t enough to keep the New York Rangers from losing their preseason finale, 5-2 to the New York Islanders at UBS Arena Friday night.

Shesterkin was easily the best player on the ice for the Rangers, who dressed what figures to be almost the same lineup they’ll use when they open the regular season against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Wednesday at PPG Paints Arena but were outshot 38-22 and generated little offense for most of the night. They were without three injured players: star forward Artemi Panarin (lower body), top-pair defenseman Ryan Lindgren (upper body) and fourth-line forward Jimmy Vesey (lower body); Panarin is the only one who hasn’t been ruled out for the opener.

But Shesterkin got little help from his teammates as the Rangers couldn’t hold an early two-goal lead and ended the preseason 4-2-0. Islanders center Bo Horvat scored twice to tie the game before Russian newcomer Maxim Tsyplakov put the Isles ahead at 19:21 of the second period. Mathew Barzal scored on a breakaway with 2:41 remaining and set up Anthony Duclair’s goal 27 seconds later, giving him a five-point night, including four primary assists.

The Islanders (4-2-0) dominated play in the first period, outshooting the Rangers 18-6 and forcing Shesterkin to make a number of Grade A saves. He robbed Simon Holmstrom less than two minutes into the game, stopped Duclair from close-in two minutes later and kept the game scoreless by twice denying Islanders captain Anders Lee, who appeared to have a wide-open net, just over six minutes in.

The Rangers then grabbed a 1-0 lead at 6:52 on one of the strangest goals you’ll ever see. Fourth-liner Jonny Brodzinski teed up a 50-foot straightaway slap shot that hit an Islander in front of the net and deflected 15 feet into the air. It eventually came down, hit Semyon Varlamov in the back and rolled into the net for a 1-0 lead. Rangers forward Matt Rempe didn’t get a point but did his part by screening Varlamov, who completely lost track of the puck.

They made it 2-0 at 8:54 on another odd-looking goal. Fox took a slap shot from the top of the right circle that went into a pile of bodies in front of the net, hit an Islander and deflected past Varlamov. At that point, the Rangers were being outshot 10-4 but led by two goals.

But the Islanders kept firing away and got one back late in the period after a needless cross-checking penalty in the offensive zone by newcomer Sam Carrick resulted in the first power play of the game. Shesterkin stopped three good scoring chances before the penalty-killers lost Horvat in the slot and he one-timed a pass by Barzal past Shesterkin, who had no chance.

New York Islanders 5 – New York Rangers 2

Shesterkin continued to excel through the first half of the second period, keeping the Islanders at bat until the Rangers got their first power play 12:03 into the second period, when Islanders defenseman Grant Hutton was called for interference. They had some solid scoring chances but couldn’t beat Varlamov.

The Islanders then scored twice late in the period to take a 3-2 lead into the second intermission.

Horvat tied the game at 15:09, again taking a pass from Barzal and rocketing a shot from the slot into a wide-open net with Shesterkin out of position after he got tangled up with Duclair.

The Islanders continued dominating play and capitalized on another offensive-zone penalty, this one a holding call against Will Cuylle at 18:29, to take their first lead. Tsyplakov, who signed with the Islanders this summer after a 31-goal season in the KHL, scored from behind the net when his pass hit K’Andre Miller, defected off Shesterkin and dropped into the net. Barzal got his third primary assist.

The home side outshot the Rangers 32-17 through two periods and had a 58-30 edge in shot attempts.

Neither team generated much offense during the first half of the third period. The Rangers got a power play when Noah Dobson was called for slashing at 9:00 and generated some zone time but just one shot on Varlamov.

The Islanders put the game away when Duclair took the puck away from Fox at the Islanders blue line and slipped the puck to Barzal, who beat Shesterkin on a breakaway. Barzal quickly returned the favor by setting up Duclair for the game’s final goal.

The Rangers can now turn their focus to games that count in the standings after by far their poorest performance of the preseason. Only a solid effort by Shesterkin kept them from being blown out.