A year ago, two years ago, three years ago, the Islanders give this game away 10 times out of 10.
How many times did you see them start well, fail to build on a lead and get punished for it? Too many to count.
These Islanders, though, did not give away this Battle of New York after taking a lead under a minute into the contest and sitting on it for 58:45 until Simon Holmstrom’s empty-netter sealed two points.
Anders Lee celebrates after the Islanders-Rangers game on Dec. 27, 2025. NHLI via Getty Images
These Islanders bore down, played stingy defense against the surging Rangers, got 27 saves from David Rittich and walked out of UBS Arena with a 2-0 victory over their local rivals, keeping the Blueshirts at arm’s length in the standings.
If you want to understand what is different about this team, this year, you could do a lot worse than watching what played out at UBS Arena on Saturday evening.
“Maybe not,” coach Patrick Roy said when asked whether his team could have done this as recently as earlier this season. “But I will say this: our players deserve a lot of credit for the hard work they put into it. I really feel like the way we defend and the commitment that we make to defend, it’s impressive by our players.”
The Islanders were superb in the neutral zone. They defended with structure. They got a terrific effort from their backup netminder Rittich, who denied Artemi Panarin in alone on a breakaway in the second, stopped Carson Soucy on a penalty shot in the third and secured his second shutout of the season.
“I don’t really care much about shutouts,” Rittich said. “I’m not a big shutout guy, because I don’t have many of them.”
The Islanders came into the third period hanging onto a 1-0 lead they’d taken after just 58 seconds, when Anders Lee got to Mathew Barzal’s rebound to put it past Igor Shesterkin.
David Rittich makes a save during the Islanders-Rangers game on Dec. 27, 2025. Robert Sabo for NY Post
Despite five power plays, all the Islanders had to show for it was Bo Horvat putting one off the crossbar, and that was after Cal Ritchie’s slash had given Soucy a penalty shot on which the defenseman failed to take advantage.
“I saw him, he went to [Jonathan Quick],” Rittich said. “So that tells you a little bit about his confidence and gave me a little bit more confidence. It’s just a game of little moves and confidence. I was on the right side.”
If the Rangers felt hard done by with some of the officiating earlier in the game, the Islanders shared the feeling by the end. They took two consecutive penalties in the final five minutes, skating four-on-six for the final minute of the latter.
Ighor Shesterkin looks on during the Rangers-Islanders game on Dec. 27, 2025. Robert Sabo for NY Post
That served only to amplify the feeling of missed opportunity for the Rangers, who watched Holmstrom’s empty-netter seal an Islanders win with 17 seconds to go.
“Is there ever enough offense?” Rangers coach Mike Sullivan asked rhetorically. “Probably not, but we didn’t finish, obviously, on the ones we had tonight.”
The Islanders thoroughly dominated the first period, holding the Rangers without a shot or any meaningful puck possession for the game’s first 11:25. After that, though, there was little in the Rangers’ game to take issue with.
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They killed five Islander power plays and were within an inch of scoring on their own man advantage when Will Cuylle’s effort hit the post and bounced out, fooling the referees and most of a sellout crowd before being overturned at 14:35 of the second. They controlled the play for long stretches, though perhaps there could have been more traffic around Rittich’s crease to show for it.
No matter. The Islanders settled into a defensive posture, the sort that would have been fatal pretty recently, and saw the game out.
All four lines forechecked, Rittich’s sightlines were kept unimpeded and the goaltender was there after a handful of turnovers.
The third line in particular had a standout night, and just a couple games after being made a healthy scratch in Buffalo, Max Shabanov had one of his more complete games as an NHLer. Barzal’s line — as always, at its best when No. 13 is engaged without the puck — was strong as well.
On a night where he didn’t have his usual offensive spark and committed a few uncharacteristic turnovers, Matthew Schaefer played a clean game defensively over a team-high 27:03 of ice. Tony DeAngelo, resurgent after a rough start to the season, had one of his better games too.
“I think we know our identity as a group and how we’re gonna have success,” Lee said. “We showed that tonight.”