Daily Report – 10/7/26
Rangers
Alexis Lafrenière, the Rangers’ first-overall draft pick in 2020, has faced plenty of criticism throughout his NHL career. But since the Rangers traded Artemi Panarin last season, Lafrenière has become a more dynamic offensive weapon.
Last night against the Islanders, Lafrenière recorded his third career hat trick and his second career four-point game. He entered the game without a goal and left with three. The Rangers have now won four straight games, a streak they achieved only once last season and never in the previous calendar year.
The Rangers hadn’t beaten their Long Island rivals since April 10, 2025. They went 0-4 against them last season. But the Rangers have been hot since Boston shut them out on Opening Night. They are determined to avoid repeating last season, and they have continued to set the tone in the first period.
For the first time since 1939, the Rangers haven’t allowed a first-period goal in any of their first five games. Igor Shesterkin, who has allowed two goals or fewer in four straight starts for the 172nd time in his career, started four of those five contests.
“Their first periods, they’ve brought great energy, the right intentions,” head coach Mike Sullivan said. “Our third periods have been terrific, just as far as our checking game. We’re not sitting back trying to defend leads. We’re playing hard, playing on our toes, but we’re doing it responsibly.”
Last night’s game took a turn early in the second period, but the Rangers improved defensively in the third. Lafrenière scored his first goal 25 seconds into the second, firing Mika Zibanejad’s long diving pass over Semyon Varlamov’s glove and off the corner iron.
Two minutes later, Bo Horvat scored on the power play as Will Cuylle lost track of him. Then, at the five-minute mark, Calum Ritchie tied the game, getting open in the low slot and wiggling around Shesterkin. But the Rangers held it there.
“I feel like we’re on the same page,” Zibanejad said. “Even on a night like tonight, I felt like in the second [period], they got their goals and a little bit of momentum. I felt like we didn’t just collapse like we’ve maybe done in the past, and we tried to get out of it in a different way.”
Oliver Bjorkstrand, who took reps as a fourth-line center in practice this week after Joe Veleno got hurt, scored twice yesterday, including the game-winner late in the second period. On the power play with less than three minutes remaining, Gabe Perreault tattooed a cross-ice pass to Bjorkstrand, who aced his shot.
“When I was going to retrieve [the puck], I saw [Bjorkstrand] out of the corner of my eye,” Perreault said. “I tried to hold onto it, and the guy kind of pushed me, so I tried to use the push off to gain a step. I saw it, sent it over, and he made a hell of a shot to finish it off.”
Perreault, the Rangers’ first-round draft pick in 2023, is starting to shine. He has improved his physicality, winning more puck battles and driving more pucks to the net. Having played in parts of two seasons, his experience has improved his on-ice positioning, leading to more points.
Lafrenière and Perreault, two homegrown Rangers, thrived last night while Matthew Schaefer, the Islanders’ first-overall draft pick last season, went without a point. Along with the Rangers’ recent fifth-overall pick Albert Smits, the two youngest defensemen in the league faced off yesterday.
Next, 20-year-old Cole Beaudoin debuted for the Rangers, filling their fourth-line center role. He was excited to join a winning Rangers team. “There’s excitement, a little bit of nerves,” he said. “I’m just going out there and having fun, having a smile on my face.”
Back to Lafrenière, who completed his hat trick with two empty-net goals late in the third period: Sullivan said that since last year’s Olympic Break, soon after which the Rangers traded Panarin, Lafrenière has embraced his expanded offensive role. Sullivan said Lafrenière led the league in net-front deflection goals last season after the break.
If Lafrenière becomes a consistent weapon this season, it will do wonders for a Rangers team that has always expected more from their former first-overall pick than he has provided. The talent is there, and it showed last night, as the Rangers defeated one of their biggest rivals.
Schedule
8:00 PM (7:00 PM CDT): 2026 ALDS, Game 3 – NYY (0-2) vs. TB (2-0); TBS, TRUTV, HBO MAX; SP: LHP Max Fried (5-5, 2.80 ERA, 104 K) vs. RHP Nick Martinez (15-6, 3.10 ERA, 109 K)
Cover Image Courtesy: New York Rangers
