NEW YORK (AP) The New York Islanders invariably raise their game against the Rangers. This time they kept that trend – and a winning streak – against their crosstown rivals going with a shutout.Jaroslav Halak had a season-high 50 saves for his first shutout of the season in a 3-0 victory over the Rangers on Thursday night.Halak was masterful as the Islanders beat the Rangers for the third time in three meetings this season Philadelphia Flyers T-Shirts Authentic , and 10th of the last 11. Josh Bailey, Jordan Eberle and Thomas Hickey each scored and rookie sensation Mathew Barzal had three assists to help the Islanders move into a tie with Columbus one point behind Carolina for the second wild card in the Eastern Conference.Article continues below ...”This felt like a playoff atmosphere. It was intense,” the 20-year-old Barzal said. ”And Jaro has been our backbone. He made a lot of key saves. That was a must-win for us.”Halak, who faced 51 shots in a 4-1 home loss to Columbus on Tuesday night, had 15 saves in the first period, 14 in the second and another 21 in the third for his 42nd career shutout.Halak’s effort was the most saves for any goaltender this season in a shutout and one shy of the franchise record set by Glenn Healy on Jan. 16, 1990, against Vancouver.Halak said weariness is not a factor despite the barrage of shots he has faced in recent games.”I feel fine. It’s all about managing between games and getting enough rest,” said the 32-year-old netminder who improved to 18-18-4 this season.Henrik Lundqvist finished with 32 saves for the Rangers, who have lost six of eight overall and dropped to 0-4-1 in five visits to Barclays Center since the Islanders moved to the Brooklyn arena in 2015. The Rangers remained four points behind the Hurricanes, who lost at New Jersey.The Rangers are 3-9-0 in their last 12 games as expectations grow they will make significant moves by the Feb. 26 trade deadline.”Last few weeks, slowly we are moving in the wrong direction not getting enough points Philadelphia Flyers Hoodies Authentic ,” Lundqvist said. ”The way things are going, it’s hard for us to score goals.”Bailey opened the scoring at 4:53 of first period with a power-play goal for his 15th goal of the season with Rangers defenseman Brady Skjei in the penalty box for tripping.”Getting the lead on the power play was nice and obviously Jaro was good,” Islanders coach Doug Weight said. ”It feels really good for him. Hopefully we can build on that.”Eberle made it 2-0 at 15:06 of the second when fired a loose puck past Lundqvist for his 20th. Nick Leddy got his second assist of the game on the goal.Hickey increased the lead to 3-0 at 3:57 of the third period with his third goal of the year on which Barzal recorded his third assist of the night.”Their goaltender has played extremely well against us. Tonight we had a real strong game and we weren’t able to get anything past him,” Rangers coach Alain Vigneault said. ”I didn’t like the results but we worked real hard and did a lot of good things out there.”Barzal has nine assists in his last four games and 25 points in last 17 contests. The 20-year-old center has 16 goals and 46 assists for 62 points, most among rookies this season. He also has three goals and six assists in the three games against the Rangers.”Mathew is a great talent. He made some really great plays and certainly contributed to the win,” Weight added. ”We’ll take it.”NOTES: The Rangers have scored two goals or fewer in eight of last 12 games. … The teams meet again Brooklyn on April 5. … The Islanders scratched F Jason Chimera for the first time this season. He was replaced by Tanner Fritz. … The Islanders also scratched F Alan Quine and D Sebastian Aho. … The Rangers scratched F Paul Carey and injured D Ryan McDonagh. …. The Rangers were also without injured forwards Chris Kreider and Pavel Buchnevich and defensemen Marc Staal and Steven Kampfer. …. Hickey’s goal gave him 100 points for his career.UP NEXTRangers: At Ottawa on Saturday.Islanders: At Carolina on Friday night. ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) Down by two goals in the third period and playing without their starting goalie, the Anaheim Ducks were in danger of taking a loss that would certainly hurt their playoff chances.But the Ducks have been through plenty of turmoil this season, and that experience was on display as they rallied for a critical win.Ondrej Kase scored 1:34 into overtime and Anaheim defeated the Colorado Avalanche 4-3 on Sunday night.”It’s been a hard year,” said Ducks forward Andrew Cogliano, who had a goal and an assist. ”It’s been a grind in terms of injuries and how we’ve played, and we want to make it count. You don’t want to not be in it Philadelphia Flyers Hats Authentic , and I think we’re pushing ourselves right to the bitter end to get in there.”Adam Henrique and Ryan Kesler also scored for the Ducks, who moved into third place in the Pacific Division. Anaheim is one point ahead of Los Angeles with three games remaining for both teams.Kase used a subtle fake on a 2-on-1 break to get Avalanche goalie Jonathan Bernier moving left, creating enough space to win it by going to the short side over Bernier’s right shoulder.”He’s a special talent,” Kesler said. ”He does something stupid every night, and that was definitely pretty stupid.”While Kase won it with speed and skill, the Ducks got to overtime thanks to hard work. They were determined to get more bodies in front of Bernier in the third period, and the grit paid off as Henrique cut Anaheim’s deficit to 3-2 at 7:43 with a sharp-angle shot and Kesler tied it 3-all at 9:19 by pouncing on a rebound in the slot.”That’s the way we are built,” Kesler said. ”Obviously, they are more of a skill team over there, so we want to play to our strengths and we did tonight.”Ryan Miller made 19 saves after replacing John Gibson at the start of the second period, helping the Ducks to their fifth straight home win. Gibson, who made 10 saves before departing Custom Philadelphia Flyers Jerseys , appeared to be shaken up late in the first when Gabriel Landeskog was hit from behind by Kesler and knocked the goalie down.Kesler said Landeskog went out of his way to make contact with Gibson.”He threw himself into Gibby,” Kesler said. ”I gave him a slight jab, and he knows what he’s doing there. He knows better than that.”Gibson was being evaluated for an undisclosed injury, Ducks coach Randy Carlyle said.Tyson Jost scored twice and Alexander Kerfoot had a goal and an assist for Colorado, which passed St. Louis for the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference. The Avalanche lead the Blues by one point, but St. Louis has four games remaining to Colorado’s three.”A point is a point,” Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said. ”You’re not going to know if it’s enough, if it’s not enough. The only day the standings matter is next Saturday.”Bernier made 28 saves.The Avalanche took a 1-0 lead 1:16 into the game when Kerfoot got his 18th goal under unusual circumstances. Kerfoot won a faceoff against Rickard Rakell in the right circle and flicked the puck to his left, where it struck Corey Perry’s stake and redirected in.But the Ducks tied it at 1 on a breakaway by Cogliano at 6:08.Jost put the Avalanche up 2-1 at 1:04 of the second, scoring for the second game in a row on a backhand for a power-play goal. He made it 3-1 at 12:10 for his first career multi-goal game.NOTES: Ducks D Cam Fowler sustained an upper-body injury in the third. … The Avalanche went 5-3-3 in the first game of a back-to-back this season. … Ducks D Francois Beauchemin played in his 900th NHL game.UP NEXTAvalanche: Visit the Los Angeles Kings on Monday night.Ducks: Host the Minnesota Wild on Wednesday night.—
