Ondrej Palat makes immediate impact in NY Islanders 5-2 win over spiraling Rangers

Ondřej Palát wasted little time making his presence felt on Long Island.

In his Islanders debut, Palát scored the opening goal and added an assist as the New York Islanders defeated the New York Rangers 5-2 on Wednesday night at UBS Arena, extending their recent surge and delivering another blow to their cross-town rivals.

Simon Holmstrom led the way with a goal and two assists, while Mathew Barzal, Jean-Gabriel Pageau and Emil Heineman also scored for the Islanders, who won their second straight game. David Rittich turned aside 14 shots to earn the victory.

Palát, acquired earlier this week from New Jersey, opened the scoring on the power play with 5:01 remaining in the first period. Holmstrom worked the puck along the half wall before finding Palát alone in the slot, where the veteran winger snapped a shot past Spencer Martin. Just 71 seconds later, Holmstrom struck again, finishing a feed from Tony DeAngelo to give the Islanders a 2-0 lead.

“I thought for my first game, we played pretty well,” Palat said. “Bo and Emil helped me so much, as well as the whole team.”

The Rangers responded late in the first period when Mika Zibanejad buried a cross-ice pass from J.T. Miller to cut the deficit in half, but momentum quickly swung back to the home side in the second.

Barzal and Pageau scored 47 seconds apart midway through the period, pushing the Islanders’ lead to 4-1 and putting the game out of reach. Heineman added insurance later, capping a balanced offensive effort that saw the Islanders control much of the play.

“That was a key moment of the game,” said Patrick Roy. “We needed to find a way to score a goal and that’s that we did. That was a super nice play by Holmstromto Barzy. It was a big goal for us, gave us a 3-1 lead, we had to cash in on the situation.”

Taylor Raddysh scored the Rangers’ second goal, but it did little to change the outcome. Martin finished with 31 saves as the Rangers dropped their fourth game in five outings and fell to 2-8-1 since their Winter Classic win on Jan. 2. Artemi Panarin was held out for roster management purposes and will not play again before the Olympic break.

The win highlighted an immediate payoff from the Islanders’ latest roster move, as Palát’s two-way game and poise fit seamlessly into the lineup