Islanders’ Carson Soucy scores against his former team in win over Rangers

By STEPHEN WHY

Carson Soucy scored against the team that traded him 72 hours earlier, Matthew Schaefer scored the 14th goal of his stellar rookie year and the New York Islanders beat the Rangers 2-1 on Thursday night.

Soucy became the first player to score for the Rangers and Islanders at Madison Square Garden in the same season. The Islanders swept the two straight sets between their crosstown rivals after winning 5-2 at home on Wednesday night.

Ilya Sorokin stopped 20 of 21 shots to earn his 18th victory in 32 starts this season. Schaefer, the top pick in last June’s draft, broke a tie with Hall of Famer Bobby Orr for the second-most goals scored by an 18-year-old defenseman in NHL history.

Schaefer’s goal came 1 minute, 35 seconds after Soucy beat former teammate Jonathan Quick from a tight angle. Soucy was playing only his second game with the Islanders since they traded a third-round pick to place him in just the fourth trade between the New York teams and the first since 2010.

Mika Zibanejad scored on the power play and Quick allowed two goals on 21 shots in his eighth appearance in 12 games since Igor Shesterkin was sidelined with a lower-body injury. The long-term absences of Shesterkin and top defenseman Adam Fox exacerbated what was already a difficult season for the Rangers, who recently signaled they were beginning a retooling process.

With that in mind, they began sitting leading scorer Artemi Panarin rather than risk an injury that could prevent them from being traded before the March 6 deadline. Panarin is a pending unrestricted free agent who the Rangers have informed they are not re-signing.

The Islanders, who have won three straight as they aim for the playoffs, were without fourth-line center Casey Cizikas due to illness. Maxim Shabanov took his place in the lineup.

FOLLOWING

Islanders: Host Nashville Saturday night.

Rangers: Visit Pittsburgh on Saturday.