Islanders @ Rangers

Madison Square Garden, 7:00 Monday

Rangers record: 20-14-2

Islanders record: 8-18-6

After one of their best weeks of the season the Rangers have now lost two games in a row but have a very good opportunity to get on another roll this week with games against the hapless New York Islanders and the New Jersey Devils.

After a brutal stretch in which the Islanders lost 20 of 21 games, the team has started to come together over the last week and has won three of its last four.  The biggest reason for that has been the improved play in their own zone where they have only given up seven goals over the last four games despite employing three different goalies.  The Islanders face off against the Montreal Canadiens tonight and Dwayne Roloson will make his third straight start.  He has the hot hand for the Islanders, but it’s unclear if he’ll be good to go for the second game of the back-to-back tomorrow night.  The Islanders still linger at the bottom of the NHL in most statistical categories, but they’re 3-14 on the power play in the last four games and 19-22 on the penalty kill.  Those are certainly improvements percentage wise, but the Rangers might be able to take advantage if they can force the Islanders to take a few extra penalties.  Rob Schremp and Blake Comeau have been leading the way offensively for the Islanders lately as both have nine points in December.  The team desperately needs more from sophomore John Tavares who has had a very disappointing season. 

Reports from the Rangers beat writers today indicate that everyone practiced except Derek Boogaard who is still battling concussion symptoms.  The lines at practice were Dubinsky/Stepan/Gaborik, Frolov/Anisimov/Drury, Fedotenko/Boyle/Prust, and Avery/Christensen/White.  It doesn’t look like Mats Zuccarello will be making his second NHL appearance, despite a strong debut.  It’s possible that the Rangers may have been hoping to get Zuccarello back into the lineup this week but won’t be able to due to weather. 

The Rangers haven’t played much at all lately, so it will be important for them to come out lively.  The Islanders toil at the bottom of the standings and they’re playing tonight too so the Rangers should have plenty more energy.  They can’t take the Islanders for granted though; despite all the negative attention the team has gotten this year it has begun to play much better.  The Islanders also typically play the Rangers very tough, so this won’t be an easy two points, but it’s certainly an important game that the Rangers shouldn’t lose.