The Islanders are heating up at just the right time - and they’re doing it with a little extra swagger after sweeping their biggest rival.
With a gritty 2-1 win at Madison Square Garden on Thursday night, the Islanders not only notched their third straight victory, but also completed a four-game season sweep of the Rangers. That’s something they hadn’t done since the 2017-18 season, and you could feel how much it meant to the team.
“It feels great,” said defenseman Adam Pelech, and you could tell it wasn’t just about the two points in the standings.
Let’s be honest - this wasn’t the cleanest game from either side. It was the second half of a back-to-back, and both teams looked like they were skating through mud at times. But the Islanders found a way, and that’s what good teams do when the legs are heavy and the stakes are high.
The Isles (30-19-5) took all four games in regulation, outscoring the Rangers 14-3 across the series. That includes Wednesday’s 5-2 win at UBS Arena. It’s a dramatic reversal from last season, when the Rangers dominated the rivalry with a 23-5 aggregate score across their four wins.
“To take four, it’s a good feeling,” said captain Anders Lee. “I think we owed them one. Last year didn’t go our way.”
This time around, it’s the Islanders who are dictating the tone - and doing it with contributions from both the new faces and the young guns.
Carson Soucy, who was acquired from the Rangers just days ago in exchange for a 2026 third-round pick, opened the scoring late in the second period. It wasn’t a highlight-reel goal - more of a seeing-eye shot from the low left circle that slipped past Jonathan Quick’s short side - but it counted all the same. And it earned Soucy the team’s IronMan mask, a nod to the top player of the night.
Just 95 seconds later, 18-year-old phenom Matthew Schaefer added some history to the mix. His 14th goal of the season - a short-side wrister from the left circle - gave the Islanders a 2-0 lead and moved him past Bobby Orr for the second-most goals by an 18-year-old defenseman in NHL history. Only Phil Housley (17 in 1982-83) had more at that age.
Schaefer was all smiles afterward, soaking in the atmosphere of a Garden that was packed with fans from both sides.
“The building is full of both fans and it’s loud,” he said. “We can score here and it gets loud because we’ve got a lot of fans here.
They can score there [at UBS Arena] and it can get a little loud. But our fans are way louder than theirs.
It’s pretty fun when we go on the board and our fans are cheering.”
That energy helped carry the Islanders through a tight third period, where Ilya Sorokin once again came up big. The star netminder made 20 saves on the night, holding the Rangers at bay aside from a power-play blast from Mika Zibanejad early in the third.
The Rangers, still without Artemi Panarin (trade watch), Igor Shesterkin (injury), and Adam Fox (injury), couldn’t find the equalizer. Their struggles continue, with the loss dropping them to 2-9-1 in their last 12.
Meanwhile, the Islanders are keeping pace in the Metropolitan Division playoff race. They sit tied with the second-place Penguins at 65 points, though Pittsburgh holds two games in hand. The Isles are six points clear of the fourth-place Capitals, giving them a bit of breathing room - but not enough to get comfortable.
Head coach Patrick Roy acknowledged it wasn’t their sharpest effort, but praised the team’s ability to grind out a win.
“It was not our best game of the season, but that’s what good teams do - they find ways to win,” Roy said. “I thought we played well enough defensively to allow ourselves to stay in that game. Ilya was good again.”
Lee echoed the sentiment, crediting the Rangers for tightening things up defensively.
“There wasn’t much out there tonight,” he said. “I thought they were much better defensively and much better coming back. So we had to get pucks to the net and create some havoc, and we finally did that at the end of the second.”
The Islanders are also getting immediate returns from their recent trade acquisitions. Along with Soucy, veteran forward Ondrej Palat - brought in from New Jersey on Tuesday along with two draft picks for Max Tsyplakov - made an impact in his debut on Wednesday with a power-play goal and an assist.
“They’ve done a great job welcoming both of us in,” Soucy said. “We want to keep this going.”
Soucy, now a rare player to score for both the Islanders and Rangers at Madison Square Garden in the same season, admitted the early season losses to his former team stung a bit.
“When you’re going against someone in your division, let alone your in-state rival, it’s nice to be on the winning side for the last two,” said Soucy, who’s set to become a free agent this summer. “Losing to these guys those first couple of games kind of hurt. So this one feels pretty good.”
Notes: Casey Cizikas was out due to illness, ending his streak of 161 consecutive games played - the longest active streak on the team. Anders Lee now holds that title at 136 straight.