Islanders at Rangers
The New York Islanders look to snap a season high-tying three-game losing skid on Tuesday when they visit the New York Rangers. The Islanders haven't fared well versus their cross-town rivals, sustaining a 6-2 defeat to the Rangers on Jan. 13 at Madison Square Garden before falling 3-2 three nights later in Uniondale, N.Y.
The Islanders followed that loss with a demoralizing 6-4 setback to Washington on Saturday, a game in which coach Barry Trotz's club squandered a three-goal lead in the third period. "We take a lot of pride in what we do," captain Anders Lee said following Sunday's 2-1 shootout loss in Carolina. "It was just a sour feeling (Saturday) night that I don't think is going to sit well with anyone. That stunt and we have to come together as a group and individually to rise up out of some adversity like we saw (Saturday). I think we did a great job of that. It's a shootout loss, but we took a step forward." The Rangers were unable to build off back-to-back victories over the Islanders and saw their five-game home winning streak halted with a 2-1 setback to Columbus on Sunday. "Pretty much got what we deserved when the night ended," Rangers coach David Quinn said after his team yielded a late goal to the Blue Jackets. "To give up a 3-on-2 with (27) seconds to go is just inexcusable. Really bad change, bad (defense) at the wrong time but we were playing with fire for a while. Just disappointing."
TIME: 7 p.m. ET. TV: MSG, MSG-Plus
ABOUT THE ISLANDERS (28-15-5): The Islanders have answered a 23-8-2 start to the season by losing 10 of their next 15 games (5-7-3), including five of their last six (1-3-2) in which they have mustered just 11 goals during the defeats. Trotz, however, took a positive out of the team's spirited effort in the shootout loss to the Hurricanes. "It was a real good effort," Trotz told MSG Network. "I would take this game style of game night-in and night-out. That was a playoff-style game."
ABOUT THE RANGERS (23-20-4): Artemi Panarin, who leads the team in goals (26) and assists (42), collected two and four, respectively, in the first two games versus the Islanders. That's par for the course for the 28-year-old Russian, who has recorded more points versus the Islanders (21 in 14 games) than any other team in his career. Fellow forward Chris Kreider has collected 18 points (10 goals, eight assists) in his last nine games, including a goal in each contest against the Islanders to move within one of 150 for his NHL career.
OVERTIME
1. Rangers RW Jesper Fast, who is expected to play in his 400th career game on Tuesday, has seven points (two goals, five assists) and a plus-6 rating in his last six contests.
2. Lee recorded his fourth goal and fifth point in his last eight games late in the second period on Sunday.
3. Rangers C Mika Zibanejad has 15 points (three goals, 12 assists) in his last 19 games, including a goal and an assist against the Islanders.