The Rangers are back at it tonight on Long Island for their second to last away game of the season as they take on the New York Islanders for the final time this season. The Rangers are one of the hottest teams in the league right now, having won six of their last seven without letting up a goal in their last three games. They will certainly have their work cut out for them tonight against a recently eliminated from the playoff race Islanders team, who beat them 3-0 just a few weeks ago. The Rangers will look to tie up their season series with the Isles, bouncing back from their last meeting while hopefully keeping their streak alive.
While Igor Shesterkin has been back to his best in the league self, don't be surprised if we see Alexandar Georgiev in net tonight. Georgiev has had success against the Islanders in the past and with five games remaining in nine days to finish out the season, you don't want to overuse Igor. The Rangers have three games left with Eastern Conference teams that are in playoffs and two with teams that aren't. That mixed with where the final back to back falls, it almost makes too much sense to play Georgiev in the games against non playoff teams and Igor against the playoff teams.
On the Islanders end, they're coming off an overtime loss to the Florida Panthers Tuesday night as they are 5-4-1 in their last ten. We've talked countless times this season about how the Islanders got dealt a pretty tough hand this season between starting the first quarter of the season exclusively on the road as well as getting hit with COVID pretty hard not too long after that. The reason you have to keep that in mind is while they may not be in playoffs, their still a good hockey team that the Rangers can't take lightly. The Islanders aren't too far behind the Rangers in the goals against category and are top five on the penalty kill which certainly cancels out the Rangers power play advantage.
The Rangers remain neck and neck in the first place race with Carolina, tied at 106 points. Both teams play tonight so a Rangers win still won't be enough as they'll need Carolina to lose for any change in the standings. As long as the opportunity for first is still there, the Rangers will look to take advantage of it. With that in mind, I wouldn't expect any lineup changes from Gerard Gallant:
Kreider - Zibanejad - Vatrano
Panarin - Strome - Copp
Lafreniere - Chytil - Goodrow
Hunt - Rooney - Reaves
Lindgren - Fox
Miller - Trouba
Nemeth - Schneider
The Islanders may not have much to play for right now but look for them to play with a combination of "everything/nothing to lose" attitude. This is one of the biggest rivalries in the sport and it's no secret these teams don't like each other. While the Rangers will want to play conservatively in preparation for playoffs, the Islanders will have a completely different mindset, making for a potentially tough matchup. Tonight will be a good test for the Rangers to continue to get in that playoff mindset all while keeping their heads in a high intensity outing.
Chris Feldman
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