The Rangers came into Saturday hoping to finally win at home, and the Islanders came into Saturday hoping to relegate a messy loss to the Wild on Friday to the past.

Score one for the visitors, who left Madison Square Garden with their first win in the building since March 17, 2022, by a mammoth 5-0 margin, having rode a 34-save shutout from Ilya Sorokin to a blowout.

As for the Rangers, whatever bizarre piece of voodoo has caused what is now a seven-game home losing streak, during which scoring has become all but impossible, there is not much left for them to do or say aside from hope that the parade of chances they had early on Saturday means there will be some positive regression in the very near future.

“We’re all human,” Rangers coach Mike Sullivan said. “Our group is a proud group, so yeah, it wears on you, we haven’t won a game at home. If it doesn’t wear on you, something’s wrong.”

The Garden crowd was left listless and booed the Rangers off the ice into the second intermission, with the Islanders having seized control of the game for good.

Bo Horvat’s second goal of the night, off Jonathan Drouin’s no-look feed that went low-to-high on the power play, had made it a 3-0 game at 18:42 of the second.

Horvat’s 11th goal of the season also, at least temporarily, tied him for the NHL’s scoring lead — and his two-goal performance was another mark in his favor for a Team Canada Olympic nod, as Kyle Dubas, who is pulling double duty with Hockey Canada and the Penguins, watched a second straight Islanders game from the press box.

Igor Shesterkin makes a save during the Rangers’ 5-0 loss to the Islanders at the Garden on Nov. 8, 2025. Robert Sabo for the NY Post

With Sorokin fending off everything he saw for the last 20 minutes, the Rangers’ comeback chances were snuffed out, leaving the home side to answer for a fifth scoreless performance in seven games on Garden ice.

Late goals from Jean-Gabriel Pageau and Anders Lee extended the score to embarrassing territory, and the Islanders were thrilled with the way they overcame a messy start to put together one of their most complete performances of the year.

“I think we came out the exact opposite of what we were yesterday,” Emil Heineman told The Post. “We were tough to play against. We were good offensively. We created a lot. We were good defensively.”

Bo Horvat celebrates a goal during the Islanders’ win over the Rangers. Robert Sabo for the NY Post

After Friday’s lifeless performance at UBS Arena, Patrick Roy completely overhauled his lines and pairs for the first of a seven-game road trip that next visits Newark on Monday before a long haul out West, with nothing the same as it had been 24 hours prior.

It took the Islanders a full period to gain comfort with that configuration, but even when they were struggling, the scoreboard went in their direction.

The Islanders opened a 1-0 lead when Heineman fed Horvat 10:29 for the latter’s 10th goal of the season, and Drouin doubled the lead with 34 seconds left in the first, taking advantage of a Rangers breakdown in the defensive zone to finish on his backhand.

The Islanders celebrate a goal during their win against the Rangers. Robert Sabo for the NY Post

The new-look lineup settled in as the game moved forward, and the difference was notable for Romanov — who has struggled greatly this season — in particular.

“Sometimes you make decisions, you go with your gut and what you think will be the right thing for the team,” Roy said. “Everybody was focused. Everybody was on top of them. I thought that was a really, really good performance.”

Much as the final score had to do with Sorokin, it was one the Islanders could hang their hats on as a team too.

They were perfect on the penalty kill, scored on the power play, played with a much higher battle level than 24 hours prior and were rewarded for it.

Perfect, it was not. But 5-0 is hardly a time for complaints.

“We didn’t let ourselves sit back,” Horvat said. “We kept pushing. They’ve had our number in the past when we’ve been up in a lot of games. Tonight felt different. We were aggressive. We stayed aggressive throughout the entire game.”