The Islanders’ power play has been an Achilles’ heel all season long. And last night was no different, as they fell to the Rangers 4-2 at Nassau Coliseum for their fourth consecutive loss, going 1-for-4 with the man advantage.
The Islanders had been 0-for-3 on the power play before Matt Moulson connected to tie the game at 2-2 in the third period. It was just their second power-play goal over the past six games, a span in which they went 2-for-17.
“We just gotta capitalize more often,” said defenseman Mark Streit. “We had that one goal, but it’s not good enough if you have five or six chances.”
It was especially frustrating for the Islanders since their penalty-killing — which had been awful — kept them in the game, killing all four penalties, including a lengthy 5-on-3 in the second period.
Milan Jurcina took a hooking call and Marty Reasoner was called for tripping late in the second period, to give the Rangers 1:28 of power-play time.
But Evgeni Nabokov (26 saves) was outstanding, and it was the first time in seven games the Islanders did not allow a power-play goal.
“When you kill off a 5-on-3, it’s great. The guys were working hard and paying the price, blocking a lot of shots. That was good, it kept us in the game,” Streit said. “We tied it up. We were right there.”
But Brad Richards scored with 4:55 left in the third period before the Rangers added an empty-netter by Ryan Callahan.
It was the 11th time this season the Islanders were held to two goals or fewer, something not lost on their coach.
“We’re not a team that scores a lot of goals right now. We got one on the power play and one 5-on-5, so we have to find secondary scoring for us to be successful,” Jack Capuano said.
“I think our defense had been pretty successful up until this point with the exception of the Boston game. So we just have to find a way to score some goals.”
The Islanders lost for the 10th time in 11 games.