AP Photo/Kathy Willens

The Rangers played very well last night against the Devils, and will look to repeat the same process against the Isles. The beautiful part here is that the Rangers can deal a critical blow to the Isles’ playoff chances with a win in regulation tonight. The tough part is that the Isles are significantly better than the Devils.

With Jack Capuano out, the Isles have dressed a somewhat better lineup. Josh Ho-Sang has added much needed speed and skill to the top-six, and the Isles now have eight forwards capable of scoring any time they are on the ice. Their blue line is missing Johnny Boychuck, and that third pair can be exposed by the Kid Line if given the opportunity. Should be a back-and-forth game.

Isles Systems

Jack Capuano has been fired by the Isles, and replaced by Doug Weight. On the forecheck, they appear to rotate between a 2-1-2 and a 1-2-2, but use both aggressively. In the defensive zone, it looked like an aggressive zone, likely a hybrid strong side overload/zone. On the penalty kill, it looks like a wedge+1. The powerplay is mostly overload, but they work in a 1-3-1 every now and then.

Islanders Lines

Andrew Ladd-John Tavares-Josh Bailey
Anders Lee-Anthony Beauvillier-Josh Ho-Sang
Brock Nelson-Ryan Strome-Jason Chimera
Nikolay Kulemin-Casey Cizikas-Cal Clutterbuck

Nick Leddy-Adam Pelech
Calvin de Haan-Travis Hamonic
Thomas Hickey-Scott Mayfield

PP1: Strome-Tavares-Bailey-Lee-Leddy
PP2: Nelson-Ho-Sang-Beauvillier-Ladd-Pelech

Thomas Greiss gets the start.

Rangers Lines

JT MillerMika ZibanejadRick Nash
Chris KreiderDerek StepanMats Zuccarello
Michael GrabnerKevin HayesJesper Fast
Pavel BuchnevichOscar LindbergJimmy Vesey

Ryan McDonaghMarc Staal
Brendan SmithNick Holden
Brady SkjeiAdam Clendening

PP1: Zibanejad-Buchnevich-Vesey-Miller-McDonagh
PP2: Stepan-Hayes-Kreider-Zuccarello-Clendening

Antti Raanta gets the start.

Injuries/Scratches:  Kevin Klein (back), Dan Girardi (ankle), Henrik Lundqvist (lower body), Steven Kampfer (healthy), Matt Puempel (healthy), Brandon Pirri (healthy), Tanner Glass (healthy)

Crazy Prediction: Clendo goal-o.

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