Two New York teams with very different seasons came into tonight’s matchup at UBS Arena in Long Island. We had the New York Islanders, who had just been mathematically eliminated from the playoffs this past weekend by the Toronto Maple Leafs and their former captain John Tavares, and the New York Rangers, who were looking to win this grudge match and clinch home-ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs.
At first, it seemed the game was going to quickly slip away from the Islanders as the Rangers were in total control for the first period.