A New York classic. That's how Rangers coach Alain Vigneault referred to Tuesday's game between the Blueshirts and Islanders. You have two teams, each of whom are on a role and battling for the division lead. In addition, one is looking to get back to the Stanley Cup Finals while the other has had a reversal of fortune in this their final season at the Nassau Coliseum.
The Islanders (28-13-1) enter the contest as the chasee, as they are the ones at the top of the Metropolitan Division. The Rangers (24-11-4) have been the pursuer all season, but now sit just five points shy of the Islanders with three games in hand. The Blueshirts have gotten in this position by winning 13 of 14 but have been held off by the Isles, who are 6-3-1 in their last 10.
Despite the year being almost halfway through, this is just the second meeting of the season between the two divisional rivals. The first, at MSG on October 14, did not go the Rangers way. The Isles took that one, 6-3, by capitalizing on several Rangers mistakes, including two dreadful turnovers by Michael Kostka in his Rangers debut, which pretty much paved the way for Kostka exit as a Ranger. Jaroslav Halak stopped 20 of 21 shots on goal in the second period, on his way to making 40 saves overall. Following tonight's contest, the next three contests will be at the Coliseum.
Names on both team are well known. Lundqvist. Halak, Nash, Tavares. Then add in others like St. Louis and Okposo,not name just a few, as well as some lesser known ones like Miller and Hayes and Strome and Nelson. The Rangers have the bigger names on the blue line in McDonagh, Girardi, Staal along with Klein and recently Boyle but the Islanders have gotten excellent production from their back line, especially late pre-season additions in Boychuk and Leddy. The sides are fairly even matched and the hope amongst many, and likely within the NHL, is that the two teams meet in the post-season, which is something that hasn't happened for way too many years.
A New York classic? Maybe, The Tunnel War, no question. Settle in for a fun one Tuesday night.