Rangers destroy Islanders to keep long-shot playoff hopes alive

The Rangers are holding on to their playoff hopes by a thread.

A 9-2 win over the Islanders on Thursday night at UBS Arena may have staved off the Blueshirts’ elimination from playoff contention for the time being, but it is only delaying the inevitable with the Canadiens set to play the Senators in Ottawa on Friday night in need of only one point to end the Rangers’ season.

This victory may have come against a team that seemingly is just as disinterested as they are, but the Rangers managed to snap a three-game losing streak going into their final three games of the regular season.

“Great team effort from everybody,” said Brett Berard, who recorded the first two-goal game of his career. “Ever since the first shift, we were kind of clicking there. [Igor Shesterkin] made a couple huge saves there to keep us in it early, but we played a good team game tonight, and it was fun to watch everyone.”

Still, there are no feel-good wins when you’re no longer in control of your own destiny this time of year.

The fact that the Rangers swept the Battle of New York by a combined score of 23-5 this season, however, is perhaps the only silver lining to what still is a bleak situation.

The Isles, who also will be eliminated if the Habs get at least a point Friday night, have lost eight of their past 10 games.

The Rangers celebrate a goal during their 8-2 win over the Islanders on April 10, 2025.

Having been outscored 17-6 over their previous three games, the Rangers made sure to take care of this one in the first period.

Shesterkin also was on top of his game and made 44 saves to help make it happen.

The Rangers sustained more offensive zone time in the opening frame than they had in over a week.

A commanding 4-0 lead going into the first intermission was the result.

K’Andre Miller (left) and Kyle Palmieri battle for the puck during the Rangers’ blowout win over the Islanders.

Will Cuylle and the rest of his line with J.T. Miller and Mika Zibanejad set the tone early, outscoring their opponents 2-0 and outshooting them 6-3 while they were on the ice in the first period.

A drop pass from Cuylle to Miller led to a Zibanejad wrister that opened the scoring at the 3:15 mark. Cuylle then followed up on a rebound later in the period to snap a 10-game goal drought and give the Rangers a two-goal lead.

The Rangers later scored their second power-play goal in the last three games to go up 3-0, with Vincent Trocheck finessing a move to the net to bury just his fifth man-advantage goal of the season.

Adam Pelech skates away dejected as the Rangers celebrate Juuso Parssinen’s goal during the second period of their blowout win over the Islanders.

At the tail end of the period, however, the Islanders pulled off their best Rangers impression.

Trocheck entered the offensive zone with only former Rangers defenseman-turned-Islanders-blueliner Tony DeAngelo in front of him. Artemi Panarin joined and knocked Trocheck’s feed into a wide-open net with 43.4 seconds left in the first.

“It felt good,” Cuylle said. “Any time you can put up a lot of goals like that, especially after a tough loss [Wednesday night against the Flyers] to bounce back with two points. It feels good, yeah.”

Braden Schneider checks Max Tsyplakov during the second period of the Rangers’ blowout win over the Islanders.

Despite getting outshot, 20-6, through the second period, the Rangers still maintained a sizable gap going into the second intermission.

Juuso Parssinen extended the Rangers’ lead with his first goal/point since he was acquired from the Avalanche on March 1, burying the puck on a wraparound move for the 5-0 advantage.

The Islanders were able to avoid the shutout with a power-play goal from Maxim Tsyplakov, but the Rangers still chased goalie Marcus Högberg from the game, even if only temporarily.

Berard’s first of two goals and first since March 2 forced Isles head coach Patrick Roy to pull Högberg in favor of Tristan Lennox, who made his NHL debut in relief after facing the Hartford Wolf Pack in the AHL just the night before.

After Berard netted his second of the game, Roy peculiarly opted to put Högberg back in goal.

Alexis Lafrenière then capped the scoring later in the third period after the 2020 first-overall pick evaded Ryan Pulock during a 2-on-1 rush with Chris Kreider and buried it past Högberg.

“I thought there was some good things that went on with every line,” head coach Peter Laviolette said. “You just look at the zone time and some of the chances we were able to generate, especially at the start of the game, just getting it behind them and playing a simple game.”