Isles-Rangers: Rangers Take The Final Battle of NY 4-2.

The final battle between the Rangers and Islanders in the 08/09 season went to the Rangers, as they defeated the Isles 4-2 in front of a sellout crowd at the Nassau Coliseum.

The Rangers finished the season series, taking five out of six from their rivals.

The final score does not indicate how closely played this game was though.  For long stretches of the game, the Islanders controlled play, but Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist came up with some big saves for his team.

Just minutes into the game, Lundqvist had to come up big with saves on a semi breakaway by Andy Hilbert, and a save on Kyle Okposo on a two on one.

The Rangers struck first at 8:33 of the first when Nikolai Zherdev intercepted a poor attempt by Tim Jackman to clear the Isles zone.  Jackman weakly tried to flip the puck up the boards, but Zherdev swooped in and stole the puck.

To make matters worse, Jackman slid to try and block the shot, and screened Isles goalie Yann Danis.  Zherdev fired home a wrist shot for his 18th on the year.

Blake Comeau would even things up for the Isles a little more than five minutes into the second.  Dean Mcammond set up Comeau with a beautiful pass.  Comeau broke in and slid a backhander under Lundqvist's pads for his fifth on the year.

The Rangers would answer back a few minutes later with Trent Hunter in the penalty box.  Chris Drury fired a one timer that beat Danis for his 17th on the year, and put the Rangers back up 2-1.

The rest of the second period, the Isles kept the pressure on the Rangers, fighting for that tying goal, but Lundqvist would not have any of it.

Less than a minute into the third, Scott Gomez scored his 14th on the year to put the Rangers up 3-1.  Andy Hilbert and Dean Mcammond collided with each other, allowing the Rangers to create a three on one rush. 

Gomez passed to Zherdev, who gave the puck right back to Gomez for an easy tip in.

The Isles did not give up and kept fighting, and their hard work paid off as Jack Hillen scored his first NHL goal about three minutes later to cut the Ranger lead to 3-2. 

Hillen took a pass from Comeau and rushed down the side of the Rangers zone and slid the puck under Lundqvist.  It was an impressive first goal for Hillen, and something Coach Gordon would like to see a lot more of.

Markus Naslund would all but put the game away with a powerplay goal with less than seven minutes remaining.  Naslund's shot appeared to be going wide, but it deflected off of defenseman Radek Martienk's stick, and fluttered passed Dani. It was Naslund's 21st on the year, and put the Rangers back on top 4-2.

The Isles would get one last powerplay to try and get back in the game, when Sean Avery was sent off for cross checking, but the Rangers killed of the powerplay.   

Stat of the game: The Rangers anemic powerplay, ranked 29th in the league coming into the game, struck twice on five opportunities.

Next up for the Isles:  The Devils come in for the last time this year Saturday AFTERNOON at 2PM.  The Isles will be giving away Mike Bossy bobble heads to the first ten thousand fans in attendance.