The Carolina Hurricanes came into the final weekend of the regular season looking to snap a four-game skid against the New York Rangers. After going 0-3-1 on their road trip, the hope was that home cooking could be the cure they needed.

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.