The New York Rangers head into Long Island tonight to take on the New York Islanders at 7pm. You would think that this game would be on NBC but that is another story for another time. I’m sure rivalry Wednesday will be great with the Hurricanes Blue Jackets or whatever other “rivalry… they fabricate. The Rangers come in winners of 3 in a row and the Isles have won 4 consecutive games.
The Islanders lineup will remain the same tonight and Jaroslav Halak will be in between the pipes as the Isles are hoping to go 4-0 against their blueshirt rivals tonight. The Islanders did waive Matt Carkner yesterday and he will report to Bridgeport. This will be a chance for him to get some playing time and log some minutes and be yet another insurance policy should an injury occur. You cannot have enough depth in this league and we are seeing this now as the Isles have been able to sustain a level of success despite fielding a collectively healthy team. The Islanders did not play their A game in a 6-3 win over Columbus Saturday. Halak was a little shaky and they had a few awful turnovers but offensively they were dominant at times and the top line of John Tavares, Anders Lee and Josh Bailey had an amazing game. This line has really started to click and it will be interesting to see what happens when Kyle Okposo returns to the lineup. Does the coaching staff reunite the kid line? Or perhaps Okposo plays with Nielsen and Strome. Honestly, it is a good problem to have right now. The only Islander forward that is struggling is Brock Nelson.
I’m not sure what the answer is but Nelson has been floundering and it appears he has hit the wall. While his line has played fine, Nelson just looks like he is trying too hard and it appears more mental than anything. With that being said, one good game can snap him out of a funk. It will be interesting to see how the Rangers play without Lundquist tonight as the Isles have really taken it to Hank this season. The Isles have been able to control the play at even strength and the bottom six forwards of the Islanders have worn down the Rangers physically. If the Islanders can establish their forecheck they will be able to carry the play tonight. Regardless of the outcome I expect a packed and feverishly loud arena tonight. As always for more on all things hockey please follow me on twitter at @DanDanNoodles78.