Did Anthony Beauvillier ever need that?
The New York Islanders winger quadrupled his goal output on the 2018-19 season on Thursday night against the crosstown-rival New York Rangers, netting a hat-trick and four points (adding an assist) in his side’s 7-5 victory on Thursday night.
Beauvillier entered Thursday night’s game with just a single goal in his first 16 games of the season. It was his only point of the year after a 21-goal campaign last season as his struggles began to take its toll.
“I’m not going to lie, it’s not easy mentally,” Beauvillier said. “But having a great locker room and having success is key. It makes me happy coming to the rink every day even though I know in the back of my head that I’m not necessarily playing my best hockey.”
His big game helped the Islanders take sole possession of second place in the Metropolitan Division, just two points behind the Columbus Blue Jackets with a game in hand.
“He’s been hard on himself,” head coach Barry Trotz said. “Just wondering what’s going on in terms of was he ever going to score. I just think he got in a good place the last couple of days… He was good. He was skating tonight.”
As a team, the win extends the Islanders’ run of supremacy over the Rangers to eight-straight victories dating back to 2016 with a 12-0-1 record in their last 13 meetings.
A rivalry night and some wintery conditions provided the perfect storm for Beauvillier.
“I was pretty pumped before the game, it was snowing outside and it felt like Christmas,” he said. “And playing the Rangers is always fun… It feels good.”
That Islanders’ recent supremacy over the Rangers looked to be in jeopardy early on though as they trailed the Blueshirts 2-0 after the first five minutes behind tallies from Chris Kreider and Fredrik Claesson that came just 35 seconds apart.
“We dug ourselves in a hole and just had a couple shifts there that got us back on track,” Trotz said. “It was sort of a sloppy game.”
Beauvillier’s first, deflected off a shot from Thomas Hickey, settled things down for the Islanders just four minutes after going down by two.
After Brock Nelson tied it with a redirection of his own, Beauvillier put the Islanders ahead early in the second period on a breakaway, beating Henrik Lundqvist.
His third would come just 2:51, sandwiching a Kevin Hayes shorthanded goal off another redirection to give the Islanders a 4-3 lead.
One could see the pressure coming off Beauvillier’s shoulders with every tally, especially with an emphatic celebration after completing his first-career hat trick.
“Coming into the game, I was just trying to have fun, compete,” Beauvillier said. “Obviously it’s a relief, though.”
Anders Lee would add another in the period to cap off a second which saw the Islanders score three goals on just six shots against Henrik Lundqvist.
The Rangers legend would be pulled in the third for Alexander Georgiev, who allowed one more in the third from Leo Komarov.
It was just enough for the Islanders as the Rangers cut it to a one-goal game with 2:29 remaining. Cal Clutterbuck’s empty-netter iced the game in the final minute.
And while the captain Lee was satisfied with the two points against his side’s biggest rival, he was just as enthused for his teammate, Beauvillier.
“It was awesome, he broke out tonight,” Lee said. “He’s been working really hard to get back to what he can do… and it’s only going to get better for him from here. I’m really proud of him and happy for him and he deserves a ton of credit. He should have a big smile on his face tonight.”
