Within an hour after being drafted by the Islanders, Matthew Schaefer declared in an interview with former \u201cEntourage\u201d star Kevin Connolly, \u201cWe\u2019re going to beat the Rangers every time we play them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Schaefer\u2019s four-leg parlay cashed 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cGetting drafted to this team, coming to play for the Islanders, I know there\u2019s that big rivalry,\u201d Schaefer said inside a packed visitors locker room after the fact. \u201cEvery game from here on out\u2019s a playoff game, especially against the Rangers. It\u2019s a big win for us.<\/p>\n
\u201cLike I said before, we want to beat them every time, and we want to keep doing that because I know it makes us happy, I know it makes our fans happy, and we get two points out of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s the third time in the history of the rivalry that the Islanders have swept the season series, having also done so in 2015-16. It\u2019s the first time they\u2019ve won every game in regulation and the first time they\u2019ve gone four full games against the Rangers without trailing.<\/p>\n
New York Islanders defenseman Matthew Schaefer skates down ice during the first period on Jan. 29, 2026. Charles Wenzelberg \/ New York Post<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we owed them one,\u201d captain Anders Lee said. \u201cLast year didn\u2019t go our way. I think we evened it up.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\u2019 lottery odds would have been reversed, and he might have been skating for the other team Thursday.<\/p>\n
Instead, Schaefer was making their lives miserable \u2014 and, in the latest ignominy in what has been a veritable parade of them for the Rangers, so too was Carson Soucy.<\/p>\n