Within an hour after being drafted by the Islanders, Matthew Schaefer declared in an interview with former “Entourage” star Kevin Connolly, “We’re going to beat the Rangers every time we play them.”
Schaefer’s four-leg parlay cashed in Thursday night, when he scored at Madison Square Garden to help the Islanders to a 2-1 defeat of the Rangers that marked their first time sweeping the season series since 2017-18.
It’s the third time in the history of the rivalry that the Islanders have swept the season series, having also done so in 2015-16, but the first time they’ve won every game in regulation.
That is sweet revenge after the Rangers swept the Islanders by a combined score of 23-5 a year ago, culminating in a 9-2 embarrassment at UBS Arena that marked a low point for the Isles.
Since then, it has been all Islanders, starting with the lottery balls dropping in perfect sequence for their 3.5 percent chance at winning the No. 1 overall pick and the rights to draft Schaefer. Had they beaten the Rangers just once last season, the two teams’ lottery odds would have been reversed, and Schaefer might have been skating for the other team on Thursday.
Instead, he was making their lives miserable — and, in the latest ignominy in what has been a veritable parade of them for the Rangers, so too was Carson Soucy.
Soucy, who scored four goals in 62 games across parts of two seasons with the Blueshirts before being traded to the Island this week, was not acknowledged on the scoreboard in his return to Madison Square Garden. He served up some revenge by lighting the lamp in his second game as an Islander, squirting a shot from the left point through Jonathan Quick’s pads to open the scoring at 17:18 of the second period.
On a night in which it was all too evident that both teams had played 24 hours prior, that seemed to give the Islanders a bit of a jolt. Schaefer’s goal came under two minutes later, as the 18-year-old whipped in a shot that beat Quick short-side.
His 14th goal of the season broke a tie with Bobby Orr for second on the all-time defenseman goalscoring list for 18-year-olds. Phil Housley, who had 17 before turning 19 as a rookie, is up next.
The Rangers did not merely lie down from there. Mika Zibanejad’s one-timer from the left circle cut the lead to 2-1 early in the third period.
The game, which had been a dreary affair, creaked its way into life from there, and the Rangers were suddenly bearing down on Ilya Sorokin. The netminder twice stopped Gabe Perreault on grade-A chances at the doorstep.
Like so many nights this year, Sorokin felt like the difference.
In the annals of the Battle of New York, it’s hard to imagine there have been many games with lower energy than this had for two periods.
The two teams combined for just 12 shots in the first and 13 in the second. Neither side seemed to have much energy, and high-danger chances were few and far between.
J.T. Miller’s slot one-timer just over a minute before Soucy’s goal accounted for perhaps the best chance of the game and was somehow stopped by Sorokin.
The Islanders, who came into the night tied with Pittsburgh on points for second place in the Metro, are playing for a lot more than their counterparts though.
On nights like this one, that seems to make all the difference.
