The Rangers continue their homestand Tuesday, facing off against the division and Tunnel rivals, the Islanders, at MSG. The Blueshirts are coming off a pair of disappointing losses Saturday and Sunday, lowering their early mark 1-2 while the Islanders have gotten off to a 2-0 start. This is the first of five meetings between the two squads.
The Rangers have been hurt by injuries, a lack of physical play, especially along at the boards, along with poor communication and coverage in their own zone. Other than that, all is perfect. For the Islanders, the late additions of Johnny Boychuk and Nick Leddy have stabilized their back-end, along with the off-season acquisitions/signings of Jaroslav Halak and Chad Johnson. Brock Nelson has gotten off to a tremendous start, keying a dangerous power play. If the Isles have had a weakness in their first two games, it's been on the penalty kill. To try and advantage of that issue, the Rangers have tweaked their PP combinations, aiming to jumpstart an offense that stagnated the past two games after a better game in the opener against St. Louis.
Coach Alain Vigneault made some expected changes following the lost weekend. J.T. Miller, Jesper Fast and Matt Hunwick all were benched, replaced by Mats Zuccarello, who missed Sunday's game with a right shoulder injury, as well as Ryan Malone and Michael Kostka, each making their debut. Miller and Fast benching were expected, as neither had done much - if at all - the first three games of the year. Miller has been unable to translate his strong early preseason into tangible results and is running the risk of becoming - to use a baseball term - a 4-A player. Hunwick has actually played fairly well, but is bearing the brunt of several others struggling, namely Kevin Klein and John Moore, though the top-two pairing haven’t been good at all, which is why Kostka is in. Klein has been moved off the second pairing, replaced by Kostka and the next step could be to call up Dylan McIlrath or Conor Allen or make a deal with Dan Boyle out at least a month with his broken hand.
Here are my five keys for tonight:
1) How will Martin St. Louis match up defensively against the Isles' top line? He has shown he can distribute but is still adjusting defensively, which could be a problem tonight. 2) Is Kevin Hayes ready to handle centering the third line, especially if he goes against Frans Nielsen, who is solid defensively? 3) How healthy is Mats Zuccarello and how long will he and Derick Brassard be separated? 4) Can the Rangers communicate and handoff forwards better in their own zone; as both of those were major areas of concern the past two games? 5) While scoring on the PP is important and should be helped by Malone's big body in front of Halak, does the PK rebound from Sunday's poor effort as they face a group hitting of all cylinders?
Rangers:
Anthony Duclair-Marty St. Louis-Rick Nash Chris Kreider-Derick Brassard-Lee Stempniak Carl Hagelin-Kevin Hayes-Mats Zuccarello Ryan Malone-Dominic Moore-Tanner Glass
Ryan McDonagh-Dan Girardi Marc Staal-Michael Kostka John Moore-Kevin Klein
Henrik Lundqvist (1-1-0, 5.05 goals-against average, .837 save percentage)
PP1: McDonagh-St. Louis, Duclair-Malone-Nash PP2: Stempniak-Girardi, Kreider-Brassard-Zuccarello
Islanders:
Cory Conacher-John Tavares-Kyle Okposo Mikhail Grabovski-Brock Nelson-Ryan Strome Josh Bailey-Frans Nielsen-Nikolay Kulemin Matt Martin-Casey Cizikas-Cal Clutterbuck
Thomas Hickey-Travis Hamonic Nick Leddy-Johnny Boychuk Brian Strait-Griffin Reinhart
Jaroslav Halak (1-0-0, 3.00, .875 save percentage)