The first period has been bad for the Rangers this season, and it was a problem again on Thursday as they allowed two goals to the Islanders in the first 6:06.
Those goals made it 13 of the 28 allowed in regulation this season occurring in the first period.
“It’s too many games now where we give up the first goal, I need to be better, we’ve got to be better [in the first] and give ourselves a chance to feel good about ourselves,” Henrik Lundqvist said after the 4-3 shootout loss to the Islanders.
Like the 5-4 overtime loss to the Penguins in the previous game, the Rangers (1-5-2) battled back, but came up short.