NEW YORK _ This is how hot the Rangers are right now: They beat the rival Islanders.
Filip Chytil scored 29 seconds into the game _ becoming the first Rangers teenager to score a goal in five consecutive games _ and the Rangers never looked back, ending their recent futility against their rivals in emphatic fashion, with a 5-0 win Wednesday at Madison Square Garden.
Goals by Cody McLeod and Neal Pionk (on the power play) gave the Rangers a 3-0 lead after one period, and Kevin Hayes took a neat little drop pass from Kevin Shattenkirk and walked in alone to tuck a backhander past goalie Robin Lehner to make it 4-0 after two, and the Rangers cruised to their third straight win, and their ninth in 11 games (9-1-1). With the victory, the Rangers _ 12-8-2 overall for 26 points _ moved into a tie for first place in the Metropolitan Division with the idle Columbus Blue Jackets. They also avenged their only regulation loss in the last 11 games _ their 7-5 loss to the Isles last week in Brooklyn.
The Rangers jumped on their visitors when the red-hot Chytil shocked them on the first shift of the game. The 19-year-old steamed in on the right wing and fired a shot that was blocked by Islander defenseman Ryan Pulock, but the puck came right back to Chytil, and with Lehner having pulled away from the post on the initial shot, the rookie slipped the puck inside the post for his fifth goal of the season.
McLeod, who later in the game would suffer a hand injury in a fight with the Islanders' Ross Johnston that ended his night, deflected in a shot by Tony DeAngelo to make it 2-0 at 3:30 and really put the Rangers in command. Pionk scored at 8:04, on a shot through a mass of bodies with Leo Komarov serving a slashing penalty. Hayes scored in the second period, and then Chris Kreider made it 5-0 when he ripped a wrister from the top of the left circle past Lehner for his 12th goal of the season at 16:19 of the third period.
Alexandar Georgiev got the start in net for the Rangers and got a measure of revenge by earning his first career shutout. He made 29 saves. Georgiev had entered in relief of Henrik Lundqvist in the third period last week but he took the loss despite allowing just one goal.
As well as the Rangers have played for the month of November (7-1-1), they entered Wednesday with a 1-10-2 record against the Islanders in their last 13 games, dating to the 2015-16 season. Coach David Quinn was asked if he sensed his team felt pressure to get a win against the Islanders because of their recent history.
"I wouldn't call it pressure," Quinn said. "I would think that they're tired of losing to them, the way we have _ that's what I've heard. ... Obviously, this is a game that means a lot to a lot of people; it's a division game; it's a rivalry game, so the games in the past really, years, don't mean anything right now."
After leaving defenseman Brady Skjei out of the lineup the previous two games, Quinn decided the time was right to put the 24-year-old back in. To make room, the coach pulled Brendan Smith, and reunited Skjei with his regular partner, DeAngelo.
Asked what he expected from Skjei in his return to the lineup, Quinn said, "Just don't make it as complicated as I think he's made it. I think he's really got in his own way, overthinking situations, trying to do too much. He cares so much and wants to do so well, I think sometimes that can get in the way of your productivity. I think hopefully this two-game stretch put him in a different mindset."
