The seeds of sloppiness seeped into the Islanders’ effort the last time they faced the Rangers, though they managed to survive those issues to extend their recent dominance over their rival.
But when the teams meet again in a Thanksgiving appetizer on Wednesday night at Madison Square Garden, the Islanders will be coming off their worst effort of the season, a 6-2 loss to the Stars on Sunday afternoon at Barclays Center.
“Mental errors,” Islanders coach Barry Trotz said. “I didn’t like the mental errors. [We needed] a little bit of resolve when we did make a couple of mistakes.