St Patricks Day Battle of New York sees the Rangers take on the Islanders

New York is a city famed for its Irish heritage, and on a day about a Welshman that is commonly associated with the Emerald Isle, the two teams representing the concrete jungle in the NHL will be pitted against each other. A good win in Pittsburgh yesterday sees the Rangers come into this strongly on while the Islanders were defeated in overtime by the Ottawa Senators, so the two teams have contrasting fates.

In the standings, the Rangers are looking to re-extend their lead at the top of the division after Carolina pulled a rabbit out of the hat to overcome a late deficit and beat Toronto. A win over the Islanders would do just that, and the battle of New York can provide a cagey atmosphere like we'd see in a playoff series. As for the Isles, they are fighting to stay in the hunt mathematically with the wild cards, and third place in the division, well within their reach.

After Jonathan Quick picked up the win against the Pens, it'll be Igor Shesterkin getting the nod tonight against the Islanders. He will be looking to rebound from the awful display he had in Tampa last week, and the best chance for that is today against the Islanders. New York's starting goaltender has been so much better since the all-star break, and this is another chance for him to prove he still deserves his seat among the elites of the league.

Projected Lineups

New York Islanders

Brock Nelson - Bo Horvat - Mathew Barzal
Anders Lee - Jean-Gabriel Pageau - Kyle Palmieri
Pierre Engvall - Casey Cizikas - Simon Holmstrom
Matt Martin - Kyle MacLean - Cal Clutterbuck
Adam Pelech - Noah Dobson
Alexander Romanov - Ryan Pulock
Mike Reilly - Sebastian Aho
Ilya Sorokin
Semyon Varlamov

New York Rangers

Chris Kreider - Mika Zibanejad - Jack Roslovic
Artemi Panarin - Vincent Trocheck - Alexis Lafreniere
Will Cuylle - Alex Wennberg - Kaapo Kakko
Jimmy Vesey - Barclay Goodrow - Jonny Brodzinski
Ryan Lindgren - Adam Fox
K'Andre Miller - Braden Schneider
Zac Jones - Erik Gustafsson
Igor Shesterkin
Jonathan Quick

Puck Drop

This is a 1 p..m. start from Madison Square Garden as the battle of New York goes from MetLife Stadium where these two teams last played to the most historic arena in the sport. The lights of Broadway and the eyes of the hockey world are on this one. Will the Rangers prove that they are a true Stanley Cup contender by dismantling their rival, or will the Islanders stay in the hunt?