Anthony Duclair intends to show Patrick Roy that he deserves his place on the first line.
Newly arrived at the New York Islanders with a four-year contract, the Quebecer collected two assists in a 6-4 loss to the New York Rangers on Tuesday.
The Rangers rallied from a three-goal deficit by scoring four unanswered goals in the third to clinch the win, scoring the game-winning goal with less than 38 seconds left by Adam Edstrom. The tying goal came shortly before when Chris Kreider scored with less than two minutes left. Alexis Lafreniere had an assist on the goal.
As part of the Islanders’ top line, Duclair wasted no time in contributing for his new team, assisting on Mathew Barzal’s first goal of the game at 3:41 of the second period. He took his teammate’s pass on the edge of the crease before deftly passing it back to him, and Barzal simply had to finish.
The former Quebec Remparts player also had an accomplice on Barzal’s second goal of the game before the end of the period, which gave the Islanders a 3-0 lead.
Kreider finished his night with two goals and an assist, as did defenseman Zac Jones.
Rangers forward Filip Chytil went through the gamut of emotions in the preseason game, scoring a goal after he left the game with a left leg injury in the first period. The injury required the team’s trainer to be on the ice to provide treatment.
Grant Hutton and Bo Horvat had the other goals for the Islanders.
It was Finnish goalie Henrik Tikkanen who was the victim of all four Rangers goals in the third period.
