In Elmont, Andrew Copp scored a natural hat trick in the first period on Thursday night to give the Rangers a 3-0 lead over the Islanders.
“We talk about all the time getting the net drive going, people going to the net, and when he does that like he did tonight he gets an opportunity to get some great passes from great players,” Rangers coach Gerard Gallant said of Copp. “Sometimes we get too cute and we get fancy and we try those plays up high, but when we get people going to the net things open up. That’s what he does real well.”
Alexander Georgiev surrendered a goal to Brock Nelson in the middle frame make the score 3-1.
It was the first goal a Rangers goalie had yielded in 200 minutes.
Artemi Panarin had four assists in the game for 95 points on the season.
Georgiev made 26 saves in the Rangers win.
“I’m happy with the way we played the last number of games because there are some games we’ve played teams that were out of the playoffs and we still kept focusing on our game and playing the right way,” Gallant said. “I like winning but I’m more happy with the way we’re playing, definitely. I’m hoping we can carry that on to the next four games and the playoffs.”
Nelson had two goals for the Isles and Josh Bailey scored in the third period for the Islanders.
The Islanders dropped to 35-32-10.
“Some guys cheated the game, plain and simple,” Islanders coach Barry Trotz said. “We had one line that got torn apart. I thought they cheated the game. It is a game of mistakes, but if you make a mistake you have to have the urgency and desire to clean up your own mistakes. If you’re going to create some garbage on the ice then you better clean it up, and we didn’t do a good job.”
Adam Fox had a single marker for the Rangers, and Ryan Strome hit for a double.
“We’ve done a good job securing home ice,” Fox said. “I mean, you’re going to play a good team either way. Like we’ve preached for a while now, just playing the right way these past few games and not letting it slip. You want to be rolling going into playoffs and that’s where our mindset is at.”
The Rangers moved to 51-21-6, and are tied with the Carolina Hurricanes for first in the Metropolitan Division.
For Strome it it was his 20th of the campaign and career best in the NHL.
“I just think we’ve really done a good job of putting those things aside,” Strome said. “There’s been no selfish play at all. When you do all the right things it comes out in the wash and you see guys get rewarded on a personal level. It’s just a testament to our team.”
Chris Kreider hit for his 51st goal of the season off the power play.
“You give these guys space, you give them opportunities, they’re going to put the puck in the net,” the Islanders’ Anders Lee said. “They had a few too many of those to start the game.”
Semyon Varlamov made 17 saves in the Isles loss.
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