On Monday night in Elmont, the New York Rangers played their fourth preseason game against the New York Islanders. They defeated the Islanders 3-2 in overtime on a goal by Noah Laba.

Laba continued his strong camp by taking a Gabe Perreault lead pass and beating David Rittich for the game-winner. On the play, he beat Islanders 2025 number one pick Matthew Schaefer and then out-waited Rittich tucking in a backhand for his first goal of the preseason.

In four appearances thus far, it’s the consistent two-way play of the former Colorado College product that’s stood out. The 22-year-old center has used his six-foot three, 214-pound frame well. On a night when head coach Mike Sullivan didn’t ice most of his starters, Laba found himself going up against Mat Barzal for some shifts at even strength. Playing with Brennan Othmann and Taylor Raddysh, Laba did a good job defensively against an Islanders roster that iced a full lineup at UBS Arena.

While Laba held his own with his line playing mostly in the defensive zone, Sullivan took a closer look at Juuso Parssinen. The 24-year-old forward anchored the first line between Will Cuylle and Perreault, who also continues to play well in his first real camp where he’s competing to make the roster.

In the first period, it was Parssinen who finished off a nice play with Cuylle by driving to the net to pot a rebound past Rittich for his first of the preseason. On the scoring play, Parssinen made a good entry pass for Cuylle, who purposely shot low for a rebound that Parssinen scored on. In direct competition with Laba for the third line center job, the former Nashville Predators 2019 seventh round pick had a good night, going 11-for-19 on faceoffs with a plus-2 rating.

Despite getting outshot 10-2, the Rangers held a one-goal lead after one period. Igor Shesterkin went the first 40 minutes against the Islanders A squad. He was sharp, making 18 saves on 19 shots. The only time he was beaten came on a nice play from Barzal in the corner. He was able to send a perfect backhand feed in front for Anthony Duclair to bury to tie the score over a minute into the second period.

However, the Rangers responded with a go-ahead tally from Cuylle two and a half minutes later. On a Connor Mackey pass down low, Cuylle skated around the net and surprised Rittich by beating him with a shot from a sharp angle. Perreault added a secondary helper on the play.

After serving a minor penalty, Matt Rempe came out of the box and got two scoring chances. A Scott Morrow clear came right to Rempe, who was in on Rittich. But a hustling Schaefer made a diving stick check to break up the attempt. However, Rempe stuck with it to get a good shot right on Rittich.

Playing with Dylan Roobroeck for a shift, Rempe was very active. His skating continues to improve along with his ability to make smart decisions with the puck. Rempe finished with three shots and a minus-1 in 13:43 of ice time.

For a second-year player, Roobroeck is a good skater for his size. There’s some offensive capability from another big forward listed at six-foot seven, 222-pounds. He scored 20 goals in Hartford last season. Roobroeck will certainly start there again.

In the third period, the Islanders drew even thanks to former Rangers defenseman Tony DeAngelo. After taking a Kyle Palmieri pass, DeAngelo gained the Rangers blue line and waited for some traffic before firing a low shot by Dylan Garand with 8:27 left in regulation. Although there was a partial screen, it was another shot Garand could’ve had. He gave up two bad goals in his previous outing. At this point in his career, the 23-year-old looks like an AHL goalie. Garand is already entering his fourth year. He’ll remain the starter for the Wolf Pack.

The contest went to overtime. During the three-on-three, Bo Horvat had the best chance to end it early. He faked out Braden Schneider with a toe drag before Garand blocked away his backhand.

It was Schneider’s return from off-season surgery to repair a torn labrum. He definitely was rusty while paired up with Urho Vaakanainen. The Rangers need Schneider to improve defensively to have any kind of chance at making the playoffs. They can’t rely on Carson Soucy to play big minutes with Will Borgen.

Sullivan had Morrow work with Matthew Robertson on the second pair. Neither did anything to hurt themselves. Both are competing for the seventh defenseman job. Morrow is waiver exempt, while Robertson is on a two-way deal.

Following the crucial Garand save on Horvat, Schneider passed the puck up for Perreault in the neutral zone. He drew two Islanders before making a nice cross-ice pass to send Laba in for the overtime winner at 61 seconds.

For a 20-year-old first-year player, Perreault has demonstrated the highest skill and skating that got him selected number 23 in 2023. He plays with a lot of speed and has excellent vision. Even if he starts the season with Hartford, there’s reason to believe Perreault will force his way into a call-up. His talent is too hard to ignore.

With younger prospects like Laba, Perreault, and Berard all impressing, what does that mean for veteran Jonny Brodzinski?

The likable 32-year-old forward worked hard to become a regular, scoring a career-high 12 goal in 51 games last season. He put up 19 points for a second consecutive year. As well-respected as he is, Brodzinski is only signed thru 2025-26. He’s making $788,000. If he were placed on waivers, he’d have to clear to be reassigned. Maybe there’s another rebuilding team interested in acquiring Brodzinski. He’s a good guy to have both on the bench and in the locker room.

What about signing Raddysh? How does that look with Conor Sheary playing himself into a potential role? Sheary remains on a PTO.

The Rangers definitely face some tough decisions ahead. As they continue to make roster cuts, with Justin Dowling waived, the remainder of the week will be interesting. They open up on Oct. 7 against the Pittsburgh Penguins in a week.

Has Laba played himself onto the roster? We’ll soon have the answer.