Islanders 5, Rangers 2: Total domination in Palat, Soucy’s debut

It was a fun one to start the home-and-home as the New York Islanders beat the New York Rangers 5-2 in a game they dominated from the start.

While the Islanders added two players in Palat and Soucy leading up to this Olympic break trade freeze, the Rangers have put Artemi Panarin on the trade block as they go all in on their official letter-based proclamation retool. Panarin was held out of the game, and will also be out of tomorrow’s if he isn’t traded by then.

But the Islanders took advantage of the struggling Rangers and put on a show for the home fans, with Ondrej Palat picking up first star honors in his debut (with his PP goal and a secondary assist, while Simon Holmstrom, Mat Barzal (also on the power play), JG Pageau, and Emil Heineman scored the other four goals.

This score could’ve been more lopsided, as the Isles hit a few posts throughout the night, but fans will be leaving UBS Arena happy with the big win tonight.

[NHL Gamecenter | Game Summary | Event Summary | Natural Stat Trick]

It was all Islanders tonight, though despite leading in shots and shot attempts the Isles couldn’t get anything past Spencer Martin early.

There was some typical Isles vs Rangers roughness, as Vincent Trocheck tripped into David Rittich and got an extra shove or two from former teammate and new Islander Carson Soucy, along with Matthew Schaefer crushing Brennan Othmann along the boards by the bench.

Alexis Lafreniere was called for slashing Mat Barzal and breaking his stick (although his stick kind of looked like it broke moments before the slash). The refs might have realized this, as they then called Bo Horvat for interference just nine seconds later, after he flipped Mika Zibanejad’s stick out of his hands and over the glass to send us to some 4 on 4 hockey.

But then Simon Holmstrom drew a slashing penalty on Trocheck, giving the Islanders a 4 on 3. Will Cuylle nearly set up JT Miller shorthanded, but Miller couldn’t handle the puck.

Newcomer Ondrej Palat then picked up the power play goal, with Holmstrom and Schaefer grabbing the assists.

Tony DeAngelo set up Holmstrom back door to make it 2-0 just a little over a minute later.

Jonathan Drouin took a bad high sticking penalty, but fortunately didn’t draw anything more than just the two minute minor. David Rittich made a couple of great saves, but then Miller set up Zibanejad to make it 2-1.

Casey Cizikas went in to the boards hard early in the second, and while falling, took a knee from Matt Rempe to the back. A crowd came together after that, but no penalties were given, and Cizikas skated back to the bench and seemed to be okay.

Then, the Islanders drew three(!!) penalties in the same shift – two for Sam Carrick (tripping and crosschecking) and one for Rempe (boarding), giving them a full two minute 5 on 3 power play along with an extended 6 on 5.

Emil Heineman put a shot off the post, and the Islanders had some good chances, but not a lot of net front presence to really make it difficult for Martin and the Rangers.

But with 30 seconds left on the regular 5 on 4, Barzal scored to make it 3-1 off a great pass from Holmstrom, who picked up his second PP assist of the night.

Just 47 seconds later, JG Pageau scored his 11th of the season to make it 4-1, sticking with the loose puck after Marc Gatcomb’s shot was stopped by Martin.

A bit over a minute later, Taylor Raddysh got one back for the Rangers, but with 46.6 seconds left in the period, Heineman ripped the puck past Martin to make it 5-2, restoring the three goal lead for the Islanders.

In the third, Jonathan Drouin had a chance on goal, but it was deflected by Braden Schneider.

Horvat took a tripping penalty, and Pageau and Holmstrom couldn’t connect on a shorthanded chance, but the Isles killed the penalty.

DeAngelo hit the post, adding to the near-misses for the Isles tonight. But the Islanders would close out the game 5-2, picking up their third win against the Rangers this season.

Up Next

Next, the Islanders make the very long trek to Madison Square Garden to take on the Rangers tomorrow. That’ll likely be the big Sorokin vs Shesterkin showdown, and we’ll see if the Islanders can make it a perfect 4-0 against the Rangers this season.