The New York Rangers were shut out for the second game in a row by the New York Islanders, falling 3-0.
The Rangers and Islanders squared off for the last time at the Nassau Coliseum. The two rivals had played 132 regular-season games & 19 playoff games at that venue.
The Rangers played the game without Chris Kreider, Jacob Trouba, and Ryan Lindgren, who were out due to injuries. This meant that even more of the younger Rangers took the ice on Saturday night. Eleven of the 18 skaters that play in tonight’s game are 23 years old or younger, and seven of those 18 skaters are rookies.
Kreider missed his second straight game, Lindgren missed his first of the season and Trouba missed his sixth straight.
Anthony Beauvillier scored two goals, and Josh Bailey had three assists for the Islanders. The Isles have qualified for the Stanley Cup playoffs for the third straight season.
The Rangers will have to win every game left while the Boston Bruins will have to lose the rest of their games in order to make the playoffs.
The Rangers finished the season with a 2-5-1 record against their rivals.
The New York Rangers cannot solve Islanders goalie Semyon Varlamov
Varlamov made 29 saves for his third straight shutout, including second in three nights and fourth of the season against the Rangers. He leads the NHL with seventh shutouts this season and hasn’t allowed a goal in 213:56, passing Chico Resch (178:26) for the longest in Islander history.
Varlamov did have help from the formidable Islanders defense. Artemi Panarin, Pavel Buchnevich, and Alexis Lafreniere combined for only one shot-on-goal during the contest. Panarin did not register a shot-on-goal in either game against the Islanders.
Alexandar Georgiev finished with 22 saves for the Rangers.
The Rangers host Washington on Monday in the first of two straight at Madison Square Garden.