Rangers crush fading Islanders as push for playoff spot continues

Jonny B.Good and the Islanders ship be sinking.

Join Post Sports+ for exciting member-only features, including real-time texting with Mollie Walker about the inside buzz on the Rangers.That was, in short, how this Battle of New York with playoff implications for both sides went at UBS Arena on Tuesday night, as Jonny Brodzinski notched two goals and an assist in leading the Rangers to a 5-1 stomping of the Islanders that only adds to the pile of evidence that the latter ought to be selling off parts between now and March 7.It was not quite as dominant for the Rangers as the scoreline implied, but a blowout win in which they embarrassed their archrivals on their own ice and saw the bottom six put forth a terrific physical effort has a way of quieting down any concerns about the shot count.The standings, in which the Rangers are now tied with Ottawa and two points behind Columbus for the last playoff spot in the East, still paint an uninspiring picture for the Blueshirts.

But at least they are not the Islanders, who sit five back of their rivals and seven back of the Blue Jackets, their season standing on the precipice as Brock Nelson remains unsigned beyond July 1.For the Islanders, a fourth loss in a row and a fifth in six dropped them back down to NHL-.500 and further erased all the good of a seven-game win streak last month.As good a story as their late-January rally back into the race was, the reality of their situation is starting to become unavoidable, even for a group — and a front office — as stubborn in belief as this one.Even a feel-good win for the Rangers, though, came with a major caveat.

The Blueshirts lost K’Andre Miller in the second period with a lower-body injury and Adam Fox suffered an upper-body injury on a fall in the third, with neither returning to the game.This is not how either would have drawn up this season playing out, and it’s safe to say this was not how the Rangers envisioned getting two points on Tuesday.It was the b...