In New York, the Rangers chased the Islanders most of the first 40 minutes of play on Thursday. 
With less than three minutes to go in regulation, the Rangers’ K’Andre Miller tossed a pass from the left boards to Kaapo Kakko on the right side of the Isles cage, the perfect pass hit Kakko’s blade on the tape for a wrister to give the Rangers their first lead of the night, 4-3.
“After the second goal they scored, obviously that was my fault, and I think that happens for everyone,” Kakko said. “That’s the way you need to think after that. It was nice to score a goal like that in the end, especially after a play like that.
“I think I handled that very well.”
Vincent Trocheck scored into an empty net with 92 seconds left for the 5-3 final score for the Rangers.
Igor Shesterkin made 15 saves in the Rangers win.
The Rangers improved to 19-11-5.
“Obviously in an important game like it was tonight, to give that goal up, it’s tough on a young player,” Rangers coach Gerard Gallant said, referring to Kakko. “But I saw [Chris] Kreider and Goodrow down there talking to him. You know, you’re going to make mistakes, but it’s nice that he finished it off the right way. It makes it a lot easier for him, for sure.”
The Rangers trailed three times in the game.
Anders Lee scored in the first period to give the Isles a 1-0 lead.
“Considering how often we were in the box tonight and how well our kill did, we gave ourselves a chance, but I think at the end of the day that’s too much time short-handed,” Lee said. “We killed some really tough penalties off in that third period and got through it, just right after we got through it they put one in.”
The Islanders dropped to 18-14-2.
Artemi Panarin scored off the power play at 17:14 of the first to tie it, 1-1.
The Isles reclaimed the lead in the middle frame on a breakaway strike from Mathew Barzal at 2:39.
Barzal stole the puck off Kakko’s stick at the Isles blue line, and scored on the breakaway.
The Rangers tied it, again, on marker from Julien Gauthier at 5:30 of the period.
Gautier took the puck near the Isles blueline and drove to the crease for the goal.
“Honestly, I didn’t even slow down a single bit,” Gauthier said. “[The pass] was perfectly placed and pretty easy for me to get a scoring opportunity out of it.”
Just over three minutes later, the Isles took their third and final lead of the night, 3-2, on a goal from Alexander Romanov, his first of the season.
“We’re up 3-2 on the road, it’s a good spot to be,” Barzal said. “Don’t really know what to say. It obviously [stinks].”
The Rangers’ Barclay Goodrow, who had three points on the night, scored with three minutes gone in the third period to knot the game, 3-3, setting up Kakko’s late game heroics.
“I think over the last 3-4 weeks our game has transformed into the way we kind of envisioned it to start the year,” Goodrow said. “We’re playing way more consistent. We’re finding ways to win. It’s a lot more fun when you’re winning games. I think we earned a little break here.”
The win was the first for the Rangers this in the three-game season series with the Isles.
Ilya Sorokin made 29 saves in the Isles loss.
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