If the Rangers get a reality check after easily defeating the modest Devils four games in a row, leave it to the Islanders.
Because after playing for a team that had been dismembered on the trade deadline and had no hope in the playoffs, the Blueshirts were humiliated Tuesday night at the Nassau Coliseum with a 6-1 defeat against a squad of the Islanders fighting for first place in the east.
After two strong victories over their New York rivals earlier in the season, the Rangers got to know the postseason version of the Isles, whose victory drew them even with the capitals to get the first place in the division.
“They’re ready for the playoffs,” Brendan Smith said. “And I’m sure we tasted some.”
While the Rangers ’rise to win a postseason bid may have been even more daunting (with the Bruins advancing by six points after beating the Sabers on Tuesday), the most troubling loss of the night was that of defender Jacob Trouba, who was tied on the boards by Islanders heavyweight Matt Martin about halfway through the first period.
He was visibly shaken and struggled to get back on his skates. With the way Trouba’s head hit the glass, he’s likely to have a concussion.
Trouba, who did not return with what the team described as an upper body injury, had been the Rangers’ main source of physicality until the end. Losing him for any amount of time, let alone the final stretch of the regular season, would be detrimental to the Rangers ’hopes of finishing strong.
“Obviously, you saw the effect it had,” head coach David Quinn said of losing Trouba. “But I also didn’t like what we were doing before it hurt. I thought we just weren’t playing the way we had to play if we wanted to have a chance. We were careless, we had too high a risk, too east-west.
“We weren’t playing fast enough and once Troubs came out, our level of play went down even more.”
After taking a 3-1 lead in the third period, the Islanders opened the game with three unanswered goals. Behind a three-point night from Josh Bailey, including two goals, the Icelanders seemed to return to their heavy-handed style of play that had eluded them in three defeats in their previous five games.
The Islanders came out with a 1-0 lead after a first period played in playoff intensity. From the moment Trouba went to the locker room, the Rangers were clearly outraged.
A few changes after a crazy sequence in which a loose record was put behind Rangers goalkeeper Igor Shesterkin and somehow didn’t come in, Bailey swept away with a pass from JG Pageau at 5:42 p.m. Islands a 1-0 lead. Brock Nelson almost doubled the lead after stripping Ryan Lindgren, but touched the crossbar.
Nelson made up for it by just 1:38 of the second, redirecting a feed from Nick Leddy via Shesterkin. The Rangers struggled to stay out of the penalty area and sent the Islanders their third power play, which Anthony Beauvillier, on his way to a four-point night, took advantage with a single score to on the scoreboard 3-0, just over five minutes from the center frame.
Brendan Smith, who competed in the second period as if they depended on the hope of the Rangers playoffs, pulled off the shot that deflected Kevin Rooney for his lone goal of the game.
Round 6 of the Battle of New York did not really look like a battle, as it easily belonged to the islanders.