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The Islanders can get back to NHL .500 tonight with a win against the Rangers. The Isles have points in their last four games (3-0-1).

This is the second meeting between the two teams. The Rangers defeated the Islanders 5-3 in the season opener. Michael Grabner, who scored the game's first goal, will not play tonight. He returned to Austria for his grandmother's funeral. Our thoughts and prayers go out to him.

Jaroslav Halak will get the start tonight. His eight-game winning streak against Henrik Lundqvist ended that night. The rest of the lineup is a game-time decision. The flu bug is going around the team.



Lets hope the bug is not affecting Josh Bailey (five-game point streak), John Tavares (five points in five games) and Anders Lee (five goals in six games).

The schedule does not get any easier following tonight. They host the St Louis Blues on Thursday and head to Columbus to face the Blue Jackets on Saturday. If the Islanders are serious about getting back in the race they need at least five points in these three games.

The team have emergency recalled defenseman Scott Mayfield from Bridgeport.

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