How to watch New York Rangers vs. New York Islanders
When: 7:00 p.m.
Where: Madison Square Garden
TV and Streaming: MSG, Gotham Sports App
Radio: ESPN New York, 98.7 FM
The New York Rangers took care of business on Friday against the Detroit Red Wings, much like they've done this entire season, and tonight has to be the night that the Blueshirts finally pull one out at home. It is getting a little silly at this point, and the madness needs to end now.
The Rangers are back home in the second game of a back-to-back, and they will face the rival Islanders who are fresh off a loss to the Minnesota Wild. There's a lot to like about how the Blueshirts held their own last night, and before we get into the specific players to keep an eye on, here's the projected lineup to watch out for.
Projected Lineups
New York Rangers
Artemi Panarin -- Mika Zibanejad -- Taylor Raddysh
Will Cuylle -- J.T. Miller -- Alexis Lafrenière
Conor Sheary -- Noah Laba -- Jonny Brodzinski
Juuso Pärssinen -- Sam Carrick -- Jaroslav Chmelař
Vladislav Gavrikov -- Adam Fox
Carson Soucy -- Will Borgen
Matthew Robertson -- Braden Schneider
Igor Shesterkin
New York Islanders
Emil Heineman -- Bo Horvat -- Mathew Barzal
Jonathan Drouin -- Calum Ritchie -- Kyle Palmieri
Anders Lee -- Jean-Gabriel Pageau -- Simon Holmstrom
Kyle MacLean -- Casey Cizikas -- Anthony Duclair
Adam Pelech -- Ryan Pulock
Matthew Schaefer -- Scott Mayfield
Alexander Romanov -- Tony DeAngelo
Ilya Sorokin
Players to watch
Alexis Lafrenière
A lot has been written and said about Lafrenière lately, and he is coming off what could be considered his best game on the season on Friday. The Blueshirts' 2020 No. 1 overall pick scored a beauty of a goal and added an assist to improve his season scoring line to 2-6-8 in 15 games. Lafrenière has six points in his last seven games, and hopefully he is about to start riding a wave of positive regression that has seemingly been cresting over the last few weeks.
Igor Shesterkin
Igor is back between the pipes after a night off in Detroit, and he's set to face off against his good buddy Ilya Sorokin. Tonight is the perfect time for Igor to will the Rangers to a win, and earn his fifth victory of the season. He enters the game with a record of 4-5-2 with a 2.26 goals against average and a .915 save percentage. Igor has a lifetime record of 9-8-1 with a 2.68 goals against average and .910 save percentage against the Isles, but last season he went 4-0-0 with a 1.25 goals against average and .965 save percentage.
Mika Zibanejad
The Blueshirts' alternate captain enters the evening with a line of 10-27-37 in 50 career games against the Islanders, and the hope is he can ride the momentum of last night's game against Detroit. Prior to picking up two assists, he'd tallied just one point in his last six games. He logged a primary assist on Will Cuylle's opening goal and Artemi Panarin's goal in the third period, and the Blueshirts need him to be at his best if they are going to pick up their first home win of the season this evening.