Rangers looking to end futility at Barclays

The Rangers are tired of losing, tired of this season, tired of playing meaningless games.

But that does not mean that they are totally tired of a rivalry.

The Blueshirts are fully aware of their 1-8-2 record against the Islanders in the past three seasons that includes exactly zero victories in the five games ever played between the two at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center. The overall record also includes losses in all three games played this season, with only Thursday night’s match on Atlantic Avenue the remaining shot for redemption for the Rangers before both teams slog off for a long summer.

“Thanks, thanks for reminding me,” Rangers coach Alain Vigneault said jokingly after Wednesday’s practice in Westchester.

There is one obvious reason to point to, and that has been the performance of Islanders goalie Jaroslav Halak, who has started eight of those games over the past three seasons and won seven of them. He has a 2.09 goals-against average and a .944 save percentage during that span, the highlight coming with the 50-save shutout he put up on Feb. 15 in Brooklyn.

“Their goaltender has played some outstanding games against us,” Vigneault said. “Not quite sure why so far he has had our number. But we’ve got one more opportunity.”

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The Rangers only have two games remaining in the regular season, finishing up with the finale in Philadelphia on Saturday afternoon. Both games represent opportunities for their competitive pride to hurt their future.

The Blueshirts have gone 7-8-2 since the Feb. 26 trade deadline, when their roster was dismantled in a series of trades. Yet racking up a few unexpected wins put them one point ahead of the Islanders in the standings.Though the difference in finishing ninth-to-last and 10th-to-last — as they are now — likely won’t have a huge impact on the odds of winning the draft lottery and getting to choose in the top three, more points only moves the possible draft selection backward.

This is a big draft for the Rangers, who have three first-round picks, the two others both from playoff-bound teams in the Bruins and Lightning, not putting them in the lottery.

But even if it proves detrimental, winning is still what the Rangers want to do — especially against the Islanders.

“It’s a New York battle. These are the games you hate to lose, and it hurts most to lose these games,” said forward Mats Zuccarello, likely to return from his foot injury that kept him out of the team’s 5-2 drubbing at the hands of another local rival, the Devils, on Tuesday night in Newark. Doesn’t help matters that the Rangers went 1-2-1 against their Hudson River rival this season, either.

“You have to get back to winning ways against these teams,” Zuccarello said. “It’s been really tough this year losing to the Islanders and Devils. Those are the losses that hurt the most. Just got to go out and play the game, two games here, and finish off strong and have a long summer and get healthy and focus on the next season.”

This streak against the Islanders is not one that has been fueled by the fact that the Rangers have been an inferior team, either. Quite the contrary, as they will miss the postseason for the first time in seven years while having made it to three conference finals and one Stanley Cup final over that span. The Islanders will miss the playoffs for the second straight season and have won just one playoff series since 1993.

So when asked for any reason explaining the futility, Chris Kreider just shook his head.

“Bad ice?” Kreider said. “I don’t think it’s something we think about. It’s not a thing. Lately, we don’t win at home against them either. We just don’t beat them. It’s just that team has beaten us. [Thursday’s] the day. I’m predicting it.”