Every game between the New York Rangers and the Islanders adds to the collection of treasured matches in one of the great rivalries in sports. Tonight should be no exception.
Whether it be the shock of J.P. Parise’s goal, the unexpected triumph in 1979 or the heartbreak of the early 80’s, there have been many memorable moments in games between the New York Rangers and the Islanders. The two teams finally are playing each other and will actually play three games in nine days, a scheduling quirk that could make the games even more memorable.
Alexandar Georgiev gets the start in goal as it is not only his turn to play, but because he has been spectacular against them. He has won both of his starts against the Isles with a goals against average of 0.87 and a save percentage of .967. They’ve thrown 60 shots at him and he has allowed only two goals.
The underlying storyline is the Rangers letting it be known this weekend that they are willing to field offers for the young Bulgarian. Tonight is an audition and the scouts will be watching.
This morning, Coach David Quinn had nothing but praise for the Islanders. “This is a team that’s had a lot of success. They’re a deep team, they have great goaltending, they defend really well, so it’s certainly going to be a challenge for us.”
He said that the Islanders are very similar to the St. Louis Blues team that gave the Rangers so much trouble on Saturday. “They both defend very well, they’ve got big strong defensemen, they protect the middle of the rink very well. They don’t beat themselves. These two teams are carbon copies of each other in a lot of ways.”
There are a few question marks about the Rangers lineup. Pavel Buchnevich has the flu and may not play. Marc Staal did skate in practice this morning after missing the Blues game, but his status is still unknown. Phil Di Giuseppe was brought up from Hartford and Steven Fogarty was sent down, but he will probably not be in the lineup. It appears that Micheal Haley will be in the lineup to counter a very physical Islanders squad.
Projected Lineups
New York Rangers
10 Panarin – 16 Strome – 17 Fast
20 Kreider – 93 Zibanead – 89 Buchnevich*
21 Howden – 72 Chytil – 24 Kakko
38 Haley – 14 McKegg – 42 Smith
*Gametime decision (flu)
76 Skjei – 8 Trouba
55 Lindgren – 23 Fox
25 Hajek – 77 DeAngelo
40 Georgiev
30 Lundqvist
New York Islanders
27 Anders Lee – 29 Brock Nelson – 7 Jordan Eberle
18 Anthony Beauvillier – 13 Mathew Barzal -12 Josh Bailey
28 Michael Dal Colle – 10 Derick Brassard – 14 Tom Kuhnackl
32 Ross Johnston – 47 Leo Komarov – 17 Matt Martin
2 Nick Leddy – 6 Ryan Pulock
25 Devon Toews – 24 Scott Mayfield
8 Noah Dobson – 55 Johnny Boychuk
40 Semon Varlamov
1 Thomas Greiss
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Gametime is 7pm. Telecast is on MSG Network and the radiocast will be on ESPN 98.7 FM.