Live conversation as Rangers host the Islanders

The New York Rangers are back home from their successful two game road trip to face their hated rivals, the Islanders.  The Rangers are going for their fifth win a  row, a streak that would be their second longest of the season. Although the Isles are out of the playoff picture, you can be sure that they would like nothing more than spoiling the Blueshirts’ hopes for a second place finish.

The Islanders have been playing well lately with a 9-3-1 record over their last 13 games.  They are coming off a dominant 5-2 home win over the Columbus Blue Jackets.  It does mean back-to-back games so the Rangers need to take advantage of having the extra rest.

While not eliminated from the playoffs, the Isles have a 30-27-9 record with 69 points, 15 points behind the Capitals for the last wild card position. Their tragic number is 17, meaning any combination of 17 points gained by Washington or lost by the Isles means elimination.

The Isles made no moves at the trade deadline so GM Lou Lamoriello obviously believes that this team can be a contender next season. They have the tools, but they aren’t getting any younger as the oldest team in the NHL with an average age of 30.6.

The Isles always play well at the Garden with 16 wins in their last 21 visits.  Overall, the Rangers are 2-6-1 versus the Fishsticks since last season. The Rangers magic number to clinch a playoff spot is only eight.

The playoff picture

It was a good night for Eastern Conference playoff contenders, meaning it was  bad night for the Rangers.  In the most important game, the Penguins beat the Wild in overtime, pulling within a point of the Rangers though they have played one more game.

Also winning were the Hurricanes, Panthers, Maple Leafs and Bruins. Carolina opened up a five point lead on the Rangers.  Both teams have 14 games left with two face-to-face matchups.

There are no games of interest in the East tonight other than the New York vs New York contest, so the Rangers have a chance to widen their gap with Pittsburgh and gain ground on the Hurricanes.

The last game

This is the third meeting between the two teams.  The Rangers won the first game on the road 4-1 in November.  The Isles eked out a 2-1 win on St. Patrick’s Day at MSG with Kyle Palmieri scoring the game winning goal with just 2:44 left.   That was the only even-strength goal of the game as Anders Lee and Chris Kreider had exchanged power play goals in the first period.

Igor Shesterkin stopped 26 of 28 shots while Ilya Sorokin outdueled his Russian rival.

Projected lineups

After the morning skate, Coach Gerard Gallant said that there is a slight chance that Ryan Strome will be back in the lineup. He skated on his own, but he didn’t practice with the team.  As for Kaapo Kakko and Kevin Rooney, Gallant said they won’t play before Tuesday, but they are close to returning.

NEW YORK RANGERS

20 Kreider – 93 Zibanejad – 77 Vatrano
23 Panarin – 18 Copp – 29 Hunt
13 Lafrenière  – 72 Chytil – 21 Goodrow
64 Motte – 14 McKegg – 75 Reaves

55 Lindgren –  23 Fox
79 Miller – 8 Trouba
15 Nemeth – 45 Schneider

31 Shesterkin
40 Georgiev

NEW YORK ISLANDERS

27 Anders Lee – 29 Brock Nelson – 18 Anthony Beauvillier
11 Zach Parise – 13 Mathew Barzal  – 21 Kyle Palmieri
12 Josh Bailey – 44  J.G. Pageau – 26 Oliver Wahlstrom
17 Matt Martin – 53 Casey Cizikas – 20 Kiefer Bellows

3 Adam Pelech – 6 Ryan Pulock
33 Zdeno Chara  – 8 Noah Dobson
25 Sebastian Aho – 7 Grant Hutton

35 Cory Schneider
40 Semyon Varlamov

The NHL website lists Cory Schneider as the starting goalie for the Islanders, but Barry Trotz said he would leave it up to Semyon Varlamov if he wants to go in back-to-back games.  Varlamov has had a lot of success against the Rangers with a career 11-7-2 record, a .916 Sv% and 2.56 GAA.    Ilya Sorokin is out with an upper body injury.  if Cory Schneider gets the start, it will be his first game in the NHL in over two years.

How to watch and the live conversation

The game will be televised on the MSG Network starting at 7pm.  The Islanders telecast will be on MSG+ if you can stand listening to Brendan Burke and Butch Goring.  The national live stream will be on ESPN+.

As ever, the live conversation from Blue Line Station is active so you can share our opinions with your fellow Blueshirts faithful.  You can join the conversation in the comments section below.

There’s always a lot to talk about when it comes to a Met Division rival like the Islanders.