The Islanders annoyingly allowed the Rangers to continue their annoying hot start to the season by offering them an annoying 5-2 win on Garden ice, aided by the rare two-empty-net-goal hat trick for Alex Lafreniere.
The Rangers scored early in each of the first two periods, but the Isles fought right back to tie it at 2-2 with two goals in a two-minute span.
A power play goal late in the second by Oliver “Swedish Chef” Bjorkstrand proved to be the difference, though Lafreniere added two empty net goals
after the Rangers completely shut down the Isles (shots: 12-5) in the third.
The Isles lost Simon Holmstrom for a bit after he took a puck to the face that required a crime scene cleanup crew on the ice, but he returnd for the second and third periods. They also lost Alex Romanov, who did not return.
[Game center | Game summary | Event summary | Natural Stat Trick]
Game Notes
- Semyon Varlamov returned after two years on the shelf. He looked perfectly average, which is a big win for a guy coming off two knee surgeries at 38. Whether he can be more than that and hold up is, of course, a season-long question.
- I was going to joke about how Braden Schenn fought early, so it’s good that we have him instead of Anders Lee since Lee…also fought whenever necessary. But Schenn had a productive game, so credit when it’s due.
- Matthew Schaefer hit the post twice, so maybe it’s a different result in an alternate universe. But the Smurfs also had their share of close calls behind Varlamov.
- The power play converted once — a pretty connection from Schenn to Matias Maccelli to Bo Horvat — and looked occasionally threatening but ultimately only lodged three shots on four opportunities. The PK did not look great, and allowed a great cross-slot setup on Bjorkstrand’s winner.
Up Next
The Isles host the Blackhawks on Tuesday.
