The New York Rangers defeated their rival New York Islanders 5-2 on Tuesday night, ending a long winless streak against them that dated back to April 10, 2025. This victory marked the Rangers' fourth consecutive win and third straight at home. Key contributors included Oliver Bjorkstrand with two goals and Alexis Lafreniere scoring three times for his first NHL hat trick. The matchup also featured Matthew Schaefer of the Islanders and Alberts Smits of the Rangers, both teenage defensemen who are among the youngest in the league.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-10-07,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
Story summary
The New York Rangers secured a 5-2 victory over their crosstown rivals, the Islanders, on Tuesday night, marking their fourth consecutive win to start the season. This triumph is particularly significant as it ends a two-season winless streak against the Islanders, with their last victory occurring in April 2025. The Rangers' Alexis Lafrenière recorded a hat trick, including two goals into an empty net, while Oliver Bjorkstrand scored twice and Mika Zibanejad contributed three assists. Despite allowing just 17 shots on goal, goaltender Igor Shesterkin's recent point streak came to an end. On the other side, Islanders’ Semyon Varlamov made his first appearance since undergoing knee surgeries in November 2024 but struggled against the Rangers' offense. The win reestablishes the Rangers' dominance in this historic rivalry and highlights their strong defensive structure and balanced scoring across multiple players.
Written for “Rangers Beat Islanders” on 2026-10-07,
grounded in this article and the 2 other(s) covering the same event.
The Battle of New York wasn’t much of a battle at all last season, but the Rangers ensured the rivalry was restored to its proper glory Tuesday night.
asserted
rivalry → ensure → glory
After going winless against the Islanders in 2025-26, with their last victory coming two seasons ago on April 10, 2025, the Blueshirts renewed the intra-state competition with a 5-2 win, continuing an encouraging start to the new campaign.
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tRY IT NOWThe victory marked the Rangers’ fourth in a row and third straight at home.
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victory → go → home
On his draft night last year, Matthew Schaefer loudly proclaimed his desire to beat the Rangers every time he plays them.
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he → proclaim → them
And in his first season in the league, the Isles’ first-overall pick delivered on it as his team outscored the Rangers 14-3 through four games.
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team → deliver → games
Even though the Islanders didn’t make the playoffs either, they owned their rival Rangers.
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they → make → Rangers
The Blueshirts reestablished their position in the feud with another hearty effort that earned a convincing win.
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that → reestablish → win
In the face of an unexpected demotion to the fourth line the last two games, Oliver Bjorkstrand led the Rangers with two goals.
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Bjorkstrand → lead → goals
Tye Kartye replaced Bjorkstrand on the left wing of the second unit after head coach Mike Sullivan liked what he saw from the tweak in Detroit last week.
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he → replace → Detroit
Bjorkstrand still managed to make an impact and score go-ahead goals at both five-on-five and on the power play.
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Bjorkstrand → manage → play
Giving the team some much needed insurance late in the game, Alexis Lafreniere scored two empty-net goals after recording a second-period goal for a hat trick.
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Lafreniere → give → trick
The NHL promoted the fact that Tuesday night was the first Rangers-Islanders game to feature a teenage defenseman on both teams.
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night → promote → teams
Schaefer and the Rangers’ fifth-overall pick Alberts Smits happen to also be the two youngest defensemen in the entire league.
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Schaefer → happen → league
But the newest rookie in the Rangers lineup was Cole Beaudoin, who was recalled earlier in the day to make his NHL debut after Joe Veleno was placed on injured reserve with a lower-body injury.
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Veleno → recall → injury
Centering the fourth line between Jaroslav Chmelar and Bjorkstrand, Beaudoin logged 9:57 of ice time and won five of nine faceoffs in the win.
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Beaudoin → center → win
The Rangers have simply been ready to start games, a bare minimum requirement the team struggled mightily with last season.
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team → start → games
In fact, through the first five contests of the season, the Rangers haven’t surrendered a single first-period score.
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Rangers → surrender → score
Only the Rangers were able to break through in the first 20 minutes, when Bjorkstrand blasted a loose puck right past Islanders goalie Semyon Varlamov from the right circle for his first goal of the season.
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Bjorkstrand → break → season
The home team looked to be in complete control after Alexis Lafreniere made it a 2-0 game off a snipe while skating down the left side.
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it → look → side
It took the Islanders just under two minutes, however, to storm their way back into it.
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It → take → it
With Eeli Tolvanen in the box for hooking, Isles captain Bo Horvat buried a backdoor feed from Mattias Maccelli on the power play.
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Horvat → bury → play
Calum Ritchie was then left unattended as he crashed the net, waited Igor Shesterkin out and deposited the puck around the Rangers goalie to even the score.
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he → leave → score
A power-play score from Bjorkstrand, however, regained the lead for the Rangers later in the middle frame.
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score → regain → frame
The Aporia
