Beauvillier scores hat trick in Islanders win against Rangers

NEW YORK --Anthony Beauvillier scored his first NHL hat trick and had an assist to help the New York Islanders to a 7-5 win against the New York Rangers at Barclays Center on Thursday.

Brock Nelson, Anders Lee, Leo Komarov and Cal Clutterbuck scored for the Islanders (10-6-2), who have won eight consecutive games against the Rangers and are 7-0-0 all-time against them at Barclays Center. Valtteri Filppula had three assists, and Thomas Greiss made 36 saves.
"Coming into that game, I was just trying to have fun and compete and just stay to my identity," said Beauvillier, who scored 21 goals in 2017-18 but had one in his first 16 this season. "Obviously, it's fun. A little relief there. I'm happy we got the win."
WATCH: [All Rangers vs. Islanders highlights]
Chris Kreider had two goals, and Fredrik Claesson, Kevin Hayes and Filip Chytil scored for the Rangers (9-8-2), whose seven-game point streak ended. Henrik Lundqvist allowed five goals on 17 shots and was pulled after the second period. Alexandar Georgiev made five saves in the third.
"We've got to make sure this is a one-time thing," Rangers center Mika Zibanejad said. "We've got to be better than that. I think we [fought] back and [fought] hard, but it's a tough one."

Kreider and Claesson built the Rangers a 2-0 lead with goals 35 seconds apart. Kreider, who played his 400th NHL game, scored a power-play goal at 5:00 when he stuffed Neal Pionk's shot from the point past Greiss. Rangers forward Brett Howden then stripped defenseman Johnny Boychuk of the puck behind the Islanders net and quickly fed Claesson in the left face-off circle for his first of the season at 5:35.
Beauvillier made it 2-1 at 9:35 when he redirected Thomas Hickey's slap shot from the point. It was his second goal of the season and first since Oct. 27.
"He's been hard on himself, I think, wondering what's going on in terms of was he ever going to score," Islanders coach Barry Trotz said. "I just think he got in a good place the last couple of days and obviously he got an opportunity playing with [Filppula] and Leo. He was good. He was skating tonight."
Nelson tied it 2-2 when he redirected Nick Leddy's shot for his ninth of the season at 10:38.

Beauvillier gave the Islanders a 3-2 lead when Filppula sent him on a breakaway and he scored on a wrist shot at 2:24 of the second period.
The Rangers quickly tied it when Hayes scored on a shorthanded 2-on-1 at 3:21 to make it 3-3.
Beauvillier completed the hat trick and gave the Islanders a 4-3 lead when he redirected Boychuk's shot for a power-play goal at 5:13.
Lee deflected Leddy's shot for a power-play goal at 14:04 to make it 5-3.
Komarov finished off a tic-tac-toe passing play with Filppula and Beauvillier to make it 6-3 at 9:56 of the third.

"[Beauvillier] is a great player, obviously," Komarov said. "He's young (21), he's skating fast and obviously he maybe hadn't scored that many goals yet, but he's still working hard every day. A player like him, the goals are going to come at some point."
Kreider's power-play goal from the left circle made it 6-4 at 13:13. Chytil scored at 17:31 with Georgiev pulled for an extra skater to make it 6-5.
The Islanders survived when Clutterbuck scored an empty-net goal for a 7-5 lead at 19:39.
"When we get as many guys feeling [confident], it's easier to close games because guys are just a little bit more poised, little bit less gripping the stick," Lee said.

They said it

"The one thing that jumps out at me is how soft we were around our net. They had three tap-ins when we were standing next to a guy. That's Hockey 101; that's stuff you learn in squirts and pee-wees. The simple fact is we didn't pick sticks up. It's unfortunate because I thought we did a lot of good things tonight. But they just scored way too easily tonight." -- Rangers coach David Quinn
"If you don't play good and the team's losing, it's always harder. The fact that the team's winning and the locker room's great, everyone's happy every day. It's tough, I'm not going to lie. It's not easy mentally, but having a great locker room and success as a team is key. It makes me happy every day coming to the rink even though I know in the back of my head I'm not necessarily playing my best hockey." -- Islanders forward Anthony Beauvillier

Need to know

The Rangers have scored twice in a minute or less in four of their past six games. … Georgiev had an assist on Kreider's goal in the third period. It was his first NHL point. … Trotz benched center Mathew Barzal after he took a cross-checking penalty at 12:52 of the third period that led to a goal. "It's a teaching moment," Trotz said. … Filppula's first assist of the game was the 300th of his NHL career. … The Islanders were without forwards Andrew Ladd and Casey Cizikas, who sustained lower-body injuries in a 5-2 win against the Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday. Ladd is out indefinitely; Cizikas is expected to miss 2-3 weeks.

What's next

Rangers:Host the Florida Panthers on Saturday (7 p.m. ET; NHLN, MSG, FS-F, NHL.TV)
Islanders:Host the Dallas Stars on Sunday (1 p.m. ET; SN, MSG+, FS-SW, NHL.TV)