At long last, the Islanders have their shutout.
Jaroslav Halak stonewalled the Rangers, making 50 saves on another standout night and this time finished with the goose egg to show for it in a 3-0 win Thursday night at Barclays Center.
The Islanders were the last team in the NHL without a shutout before Thursday.
“It’s not the be-all, end-all, but yeah, it feels really good for him,” coach Doug Weight said. “Hopefully we can build on that.”
Halak is now 17-7 all-time against the Rangers, with a 2.36 goals against average and .927 save percentage, both better than his career marks.
The Isles entered Thursday allowing a league-high 3.69 goals per game. They still let up 50 shots on goal — they have now allowed 39 or more in 10 of their last 12 games — but Halak stood tall to turn away each one against the team he has come to dominate.
“I feel fine,” Halak said. “It’s all about managing between games and how much rest you get. Goalies, it’s about mentally being fresh.”
On the other end, the Rangers were left feeling empty yet again against the 32-year-old Halak.
“Their goaltender, this is 10 or 11 [straight] he’s played extremely well against us,” Blueshirts coach Alain Vigneault said. “I thought tonight he had a real strong game. We just weren’t able to get anything past him.”
Mathew Barzal had a field day against the Rangers last month, tallying five points in a 7-2 win at the Garden. He didn’t quite match that output Thursday but came close, recording three assists to give him 45 on the year.
The first assist of the night gave Barzal 60 points this season, becoming the first Islanders rookie to record 60 points since Mike Bossy (1977-78).
“You can kind of just feel it in the air when the Rangers and Islanders play,” Barzal said. “I love that kind of feeling. This felt like a playoff game tonight right out of the gate. I love that atmosphere more than I like just playing the Rangers.”
A game after being on the ice for 25:28 against the Wild, Rangers defenseman Neal Pionk skated a team-high 23:04 against the Islanders. He is one-fourth of the Blueshirts’ new defensive corps that were all playing together for AHL Hartford just last month.
The crowd of 15,795 on hand — split fairly evenly between Islanders and Rangers fans — marked the first sellout of the season at Barclays Center.