Alexis Lafreniere scored three goals and added an assist to power the New York Rangers to a 5-2 victory over the New York Islanders at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday.
Oliver Bjorkstrand opened the scoring for the Rangers at 6:40 of the first period, converting a slap shot off feeds from Lafreniere and Sean Durzi for his first goal of the season. Lafreniere doubled the lead 25 seconds into the second period with a snap shot assisted by Mika Zibanejad and Vladislav Gavrikov. The Islanders answered quickly, as Bo Horvat scored on a power play at 2:56 and Calum Ritchie knotted the game 2-2 at 4:52 with a wrist shot.
Bjorkstrand put the Rangers back ahead for good with a power-play wrist shot at 17:07 of the second period, assisted by Gabe Perreault and Will Cuylle. With the Islanders pushing late, Lafreniere sealed the outcome by scoring empty-net goals at 18:22 and 18:54 of the third period to complete his hat trick.
Igor Shesterkin stopped 17 of 19 shots to earn the win for the Rangers, who converted 1 of 3 opportunities on the power play. Semyon Varlamov made 19 saves on 22 shots in the loss for the Islanders, who finished 1 for 4 with the man advantage.
The victory extended the Rangers' winning streak to four games and improved their regular-season record to 4-1-0. The Islanders fell to 1-2-0 with the loss.
Both teams will face the Anaheim Ducks in their next games. The Rangers host Anaheim on Monday, October 19, while the Islanders host the Ducks on Tuesday, October 20.
