The Rangers and Islanders are back at it tonight for the third time in a little over a week, with the Rangers taking the first two matchups. It’s been a long time since Rangers/Islanders games actually meant something between the two teams. For the fans, they’ve always meant something, but now it looks like bad blood is brewing between the current teams, fueled on by some physical play and seeing each other three times in a week. It also helps that the Rangers won in dramatic fashion in their prior meeting.
The Blueshirts lost in equally dramatic fashion on Sunday night, which meant David Quinn changed up the lines. Brendan Lemieux is back and up with the top line, while Pavel Buchnevich –who appears to be battling the flu– is on the fourth line. I’m always wary of overreacting to one loss, especially with how well the Rangers have played over the past two months, but this one appears to be just flu related.
This is the final game for 10 days, as the Rangers hit the All Star break and the bye week back to back.
Isles Lines
Anthony Beauvillier-Mat Barzal-Josh Bailey
Anders Lee-Brock Nelson-Jordan Eberle
Michael Dal Colle-Derick Brassard-Tom Kuhnackl
Ross Johnston-Leo Komarov–Matt Martin
Nick Leddy-Ryan Pulock
Devon Toews-Scott Mayfield
Noah Dobson-Johnny Boychuk
PP1: Lee-Barzal-Bailey-Toews-Beauvillier
PP2: Brassard-Nelson-Eberle-Dobson-Pulock
Semyon Varlamov gets the start.
Rangers Lines (best guess)
Chris Kreider–Mika Zibanejad–Brendan Lemieux
Artemi Panarin–Ryan Strome–Jesper Fast
Brett Howden–Filip Chytil–Kaapo Kakko
Brendan Smith–Greg McKegg–Pavel Buchnevich
Brady Skjei–Jacob Trouba
Marc Staal–Tony DeAngelo
Ryan Lindgren–Adam Fox
PP1: Panarin-Zibanejad-Strome-Kreider-DeAngelo
PP2: Kakko-Buchnevich-Lemieux/Chytil-Trouba-Fox
PK Forwards: Fast, Kreider, Strome, Howden, Lemieux, McKegg
PK Defense: Skjei, Trouba, Staal, Smith, Lindgren
Alex Georgiev gets the start.
Scratches: Phil Di Giuseppe (healthy), Igor Shesterkin (healthy)
Crazy Prediction: Don’t forget to check out the revived podcast!
Game time is 7pm.
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