Holmstrom gets 3 points, Pageau has 2 points in second straight win
NYR at NYI | Recap
ELMONT, N.Y. — Ondrej Palat had a goal and an assist in his New York Islanders debut, a 5-2 win against the New York Rangers at UBS Arena on Wednesday.
The Islanders acquired the 34-year-old forward from the New Jersey Devils along with a third-round pick in the 2026 NHL Draft and a sixth-round pick in the 2027 NHL Draft for forward Maxim Tsyplakov on Tuesday.
“I felt pretty good,” Palat said. “The system is pretty easy but there’s still room for improvement. As I play more games, I will get more comfortable. I think for the first game, I thought we played well. And with (Bo) Horvat and (Emil) Heineman, I thought those guys helped me so much, and the whole team.”
Simon Holmstrom, who missed the 4-0 win against the Philadelphia Flyers on Monday with an illness, had a goal and two assists for the Islanders (29-19-5), who will try to sweep the four-game season series on Thursday at Madison Square Garden. Jean-Gabriel Pageau had a goal and an assist, and David Rittich made 14 saves.
Carson Soucy had two shots on goal in 16:38 of ice time in his Islanders debut. The Islanders sent the Rangers a 2026 third-round pick for the defenseman on Monday.
“I think the guys were excited to see these guys come in,” Islanders coach Patrick Roy said. “It’s nice to see Palat get a goal on the power play. It was a nice shot by him, but I thought both adjusted very well. Palat and Soucy, I felt like they played a solid game for us, for guys who didn’t have much time to understand or see our structure. You can tell they are good vets.”
NYR@NYI: Palat wires home a one-timer for a PPG, scoring his first goal with the Islanders
Mika Zibanejad and Taylor Raddysh scored for the Rangers (22-26-6), who are 2-8-1 in their past 11 games. Spencer Martin made 31 saves.
The Rangers held forward Artemi Panarin, their leading scorer, out of the lineup for roster management reasons. He is not expected to play in the team’s remaining three games before the Olympic break.
“Panarin is a terrific player and a great teammate, and he’s good friends with a lot of the guys that are in that dressing room,” Rangers coach Mike Sullivan said. “That has an impact on guys. I thought our guys did a great job, just as far as controlling what they can and bringing the right intentions out there. But obviously, he’s one of the best Rangers of his generation, and he’s not an easy guy to replace, not in the lineup, but everybody understands it. And we’re going to control what we can and we’re going to see what we can take from this one. We’re going to try to put our best game on the ice tomorrow.”
Palat gave the Islanders a 1-0 lead on the power play at 14:59 of the first period. Holmstrom found him in the bumper spot for a one-time finish glove side on Martin.
Holmstrom made it 2-0 at 16:10. Pageau won an offensive-zone draw back to Tony DeAngelo at the right point before he found Holmstrom cutting to the back slot for a tap-in.
Zibanejad cut the Rangers’ deficit to 2-1 at 18:04 of the first period while on the power play. J.T. Miller, stationed in the right face-off circle, found Zibanejad deep in the left face-off circle for a one-time finish.
Emil Heineman hit the crossbar on a 5-on-3 power play at 10:27 of the second period, but Mathew Barzal gave the Islanders a 3-1 lead at 13:12 on the ensuing 5-on-4 power play. Holmstrom fed Barzal inside the left face-off circle for a one-time finish.
“They got that power-play goal, and I think we lost a little bit [of momentum],” Rangers defenseman Braden Schneider said. “I thought we needed a bit better effort. In the third, we were trying, but they were doing a good job, so I thought [we just needed] a little bit more.”
NYR@NYI: Pageau scores goal against Spencer Martin
Pageau scored 47 seconds later to give the Islanders a 4-1 lead at 13:59 when he knocked home a loose puck in the low slot after Marc Gatcomb’s wrist shot produced a rebound.
Raddysh scored at 15:42 to cut the Rangers’ deficit to 4-2. He cut to the front of the net and snuck a wrist shot past Rittich.
Heineman beat Martin high glove side from the slot off a feed from Adam Pelech at 19:12 of the second period to make it 5-2.
“It’s a great first day, a great first day for everyone,” Islanders captain Anders Lee said. “It’s great to have Soucy and Palat. [General manager Mathieu] Darche went out and did his best to make our team better, and I think he did. And those guys contributed big time tonight, and we backed up our solid game in Philly (a 4-0 win on Monday) with another solid game. And I think that’s the most important thing that we’ve needed lately, is a little bit of that consistency within the game, and it’s starting to come a little bit better.”
NOTES: Zibanejad moved into a tie with Andy Bathgate (272) for fifth on the Rangers’ all-time goals list. … Matthew Schaefer, who assisted on Palat’s goal, has 35 points (13 goals, 22 assists) to surpass Tomas Jonsson (34 in 1981-82) and Chris Campoli (34 in 2005-06) for the fifth-most points in a season by an Islanders rookie defenseman. … Defenseman Ryan Pulock returned to the lineup after missing two games with an upper-body injury. He was plus-1 in 19:53 of ice time.
Hockey News