Islanders Suffer St. Patty's Day 5-2 Loss On Rangers Garden Ice

The New York Islanders had to turn it around quickly, after falling to the Ottawa Senators in OT in Elmont 24 hours earlier. Meanwhile, the Rangers entered today's game with wins in four of its last five games, including Saturday's win in Pittsburgh. 

And while the Orange and Blue skated well in the first, it all began to unravel in the second period, leading top a 5-2 loss to the Rangers. 

The game opened with the Rangers continued momentum from Saturday's win. However after much pressure the first half of the period, they failed to light the lamp.

After failing to convert on an Islanders power play, Bo Horvat opened the scoring with a short-handed marker at 14:08 to give the Islanders a 1-0 lead. Brock Nelson made a sharp snap pass finding Horvat in the slot who put the puck into the wide open net.

The goal came after Vincent Trocheck's holding penalty expired and while Pierre Engvall was still in the penalty box for holding. 

Will Cuylle gave the Rangers their first lead at 10:14 of the second period. Ryan Lindgren made a stretch pass to find Cuylle alone, incredibly behind the Islanders defense, who then beat Ilya Sorokin glove side to give the Rangers a 2-1 lead.

Bo Horvat notched his second goal of the afternoon at 13:54 to tie the game at two. Horvat initially tipped a Mike Reilly shot, then was somehow able to find it with not much space to put it past Igor Shesterkin.

The Rangers answered right back with a Jonny Brodzinski goal at 15:01. Keandre Miller sent a slap shot toward the net where Brozinski was able to tip it towards Ilya Sorokin and it leaked right past him to give the Rangers a 3-2 lead.

Moments later, Rangers defenseman Ryan Lindgren and JG Pageau got tangled up along the boards and it looked as if Lindgren’s leg got rolled up on. Lidgren went down in pain and left the ice.

It was soon after announced that Lindgren would not return to the game, leaving the Rangers with five defensemen the rest of the afternoon. 

Kicking off the third period, Kaapo Kakko extended the Ranger lead to 4-2 at 2:36 of the third period. Kakko took advantage of the Islanders' passive play and walked right into the slot, shooting a wrist shot past Sorokin.

Alexis Lafreniere gave the Rangers a 5-2 lead at 10:42 of the third. Artemi Panarin made a firm pass to Lafrenier who delivered a one-time shot to beat Sorokin glove side.

The Rangers thwarted any Islanders comeback attempts, and eventually closed out the 5-2 win, leaving the Islanders just outside the playoff bubble.

UP NEXT: The Islanders head back to Elmont to host the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday at 7:30 ET.

LINES:

Nelson-Horvat-Palmieri

Lee-Pageau-Barzal

Engvall-Cizikas-Holmstrom

Martin-MacLean-Clutterbuck

Romanov-Dobson

Pelech-Pulock

Reilly-Aho

Sorokin

Varlamov

UP NEXT: The Rangers host the Winnipeg Jets on Tuesday at 7 PM ET at The Garden.