A year ago, two years ago, three years ago, the Islanders give this game away 10 times out of 10.
How many times did you see them start well, fail to build on a lead and get punished for it? Too many to count.
These Islanders, though, did not give away this Battle of New York after taking a lead under a minute into the contest and sitting on it for the next 59:02. These Islanders bore down, played stingy defense against the surging Rangers and walked out of UBS Arena with a 2-0 victory over their crosstown rivals, keeping the Blueshirts at arm’s length in the standings.
If you want to understand what is different about this team, this year, you could do a lot worse than simply watching what played out Saturday evening.
The Islanders were superb in the neutral zone. They defended with structure. They got a terrific effort from backup netminder David Rittich, who denied Artemi Panarin on a breakaway in the second as the best of a 27-save night, his second shutout of the season.
They came into the third period hanging onto a 1-0 lead on the thinnest of margins and without Barzal, as tenuous a position as you could ask for.
Their power play, already 0-for-3 on the night, gave away a penalty shot on their fourth try, but Carson Soucy was turned aside by Rittich. Needless to add, they were soon 0-for-4.
The Islanders made it 0-for-5 after Vincent Trocheck was called for holding Ryan Pulock, with Bo Horvat ringing the crossbar on the ensuing power play, but that was one of few grade-A chances they had in 10 minutes on the man advantage.
If the Rangers felt hard done by with some of the officiating earlier in the game, the Islanders shared the feeling by the end. They took two consecutive penalties after the Trocheck trip, and skated 6-on-4 at the end of the second of those.
That served only to amplify the feeling of missed opportunity for the Rangers, and the feeling of having gritted out two points for the Islanders, who promptly sealed the win on Simon Holmstrom’s empty-net goal.
The Rangers, after going the game’s first 11:25 without a shot and without any meaningful possession of the puck, had little to gripe about.
They killed five Islander power plays and were within an inch of scoring on their own man advantage when Will Cuylle’s effort hit the post and bounced out, fooling the referees and most of a sellout crowd before being overturned at 14:35 of the third. They controlled the play for long stretches, though perhaps there could have been more traffic around Rittich’s crease to show for it.
No matter. The Islanders took a 1-0 lead just 58 seconds into the first when Anders Lee was first to Mat Barzal’s rebound — extending a points streak to eight games for No. 13 — and, after dominating the first period, settled into a defensive posture.
All four lines forechecked, David Rittich’s sightlines were kept unimpeded and the goaltender was there after a handful of turnovers.
The third line in particular had a standout night, and just a couple games after being made a healthy scratch in Buffalo, Max Shabanov had one of his more complete games as an NHLer. Barzal’s line — as always, at its best when No. 13 is engaged without the puck — was strong as well.
The Rangers, notably, didn’t have much of an issue defending Matthew Schaefer, who was held quiet and forced into a couple uncharacteristically poor decisions with the puck.
It was the Rangers, though, who will feel like they let one get away. And the Islanders who can fly to Columbus with two points in their back pocket.
