This was the best game played by the New York Rangers in almost two weeks. Victimized yet again by ill-timed penalties, they lost on an Islander goal with a minute and a half left. What hurt even more is that in the third period they held the Islanders without a shot until the winning goal.
There was bad blood from the get go in this game. Cody McLeod and Matt Martin almost squared off after the opening faceoff, then Ross Johnston tried to take on Cody McLeod only McLeod wanted no part of it. When Johston dropped his glove and McLeod skated away, the Islander too an early unsportsmanlike conduct penalty.