Islanders at Rangers
The New York Islanders look to complete their first-ever season sweep of the New York Rangers and pull even in points with the cross-town rivals when the clubs meet at Madison Square Garden on Thursday. Winners of two in a row and five of their last six, the Islanders clinched a postseason berth for the third time in four seasons with a 4-3 overtime victory over Washington on Tuesday.
Captain John Tavares scored a goal and set up two others for the second straight outing and has five tallies and six assists in his last eight contests for the Islanders, who have a game in hand on the third-place Rangers. Tavares has tormented the Rangers throughout his career with 31 points (12 goals, 19 assists) in 34 meetings, including a goal in the Islanders' 2-1 shootout win on Dec. 2 and an assist in both a 3-1 victory on Jan. 14 and a 6-4 triumph on March 6. Rangers forward Derek Stepan had an assist in the last encounter with the Islanders but has recorded 14 points (six goals, eight assists) in his last eight games overall. The 25-year-old tallied twice and set up Chris Kreider for his fifth goal and eighth point in six games on Tuesday as the Rangers rallied from a two-goal deficit to post a 3-2 victory over Tampa Bay.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, MSG, MSG-Plus2, NHL.TV
ABOUT THE ISLANDERS (44-26-9): Bob Nystrom, Pat LaFontaine and Clark Gillies are among the many of the team's alumni expected to be in attendance on Thursday to honor Hockey Hall of Fame coach Al Arbour at the Fox Hollow Inn in Woodbury, N.Y. "We were always planning to have some sort of an event up here," said Nystrom, who scored the Stanley Cup-clinching goal in overtime against Philadelphia to give Arbour and the Islanders their first championship. "This is where Al coached and this is where we all played. Needless to say, we think this would be an ideal place to memorialize him." Arbour, who won 740 games as coach of the club, died on Aug. 28 at the age of 82.
ABOUT THE RANGERS (45-26-9): With captain Ryan McDonagh (right hand) ruled out indefinitely, New York's woes on the back line quickly doubled as fellow defenseman Dan Girardi suffered an undisclosed injury following a hit from former teammate Brian Boyle on Tuesday. "It's not good," Henrik Lundqvist told the New York Daily News. "It's definitely not this time of year. I really hope (Girardi’s injury) is not too serious. He's a guy who plays hard and doesn't go down unless it’s really painful. I’m gonna hope for the best here." Kevin Klein (team-high 27:24 of ice time on Tuesday) and Marc Staal (23:13) logged significant minutes in his absence while fellow blue-liner and 2012 first-round pick Brady Skjei could see added ice time on the heels of his third recall this season.
OVERTIME
1. Islanders RW Kyle Okposo has recorded back-to-back multi-point performances overall and scored and set up a goal in each of the last two meetings with the Rangers.
2. Rangers RW Mats Zuccarello has eight points (four goals, four assists) in his last eight games, but has been held without a goal in 19 career encounters with the Islanders.
3. The Islanders are 3-for-7 on the power play versus the Rangers this season and killed off all but one of nine short-handed opportunities.