Rookie Brett Berard had his first career two-goal game for the visiting New York Rangers, who remained mathematically alive in the Eastern Conference wild-card race while all but ending the New York Islanders' playoff hopes with a 9-2 win on Thursday in Elmont,

And that was something the Islanders’ Kyle Palmieri of Smithtown did not think his team did in Thursday’s night’s 9-2 loss to the Rangers at UBS Arena that left both teams in the same tenuous spot of knowing either one point gained by the Canadiens or one point lost by them would mean playoff elimination.

The New York Rangers defeated the New York Islanders 9-2 on Thursday night in dominating fashion. Peter Laviolette went into this game making some major line changes. On top of the moves to scratch Gabe Perreault and Brennan Othmann,