Rangers at Islanders
The New York Rangers and New York Islanders are close in proximity but remain miles apart in the Metropolitan Division standings entering Tuesday's matchup at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Although the Rangers have gone nine games without back-to-back wins, they sit atop the Metropolitan while the Islanders are mired in the division basement.
The Islanders dominated their city rivals in 2015-16, winning all four matchups to sweep a season series against the Rangers for the first time. That streak came to an end in the season opener for both teams at Madison Square Garden, when the Rangers skated to a 5-3 victory on Oct. 13. The Rangers' last two wins came against Carolina in a five-day stretch as they victimized the Hurricanes for five third-period goals. The Islanders have rebounded from an ugly stretch in which they dropped 11 of 14 contests and are riding a four-game point streak (3-0-1) after Sunday's 4-3 overtime loss to Detroit.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, SN1, SNO, MSG2, MSG-Plus
ABOUT THE RANGERS (17-8-1): Ex-Islander Michael Grabner, who leads the Rangers with 13 goals and tallied in the season opener, will miss the matchup against his former teammates to attend the funeral of his grandmother in Austria. To fill Grabner's roster spot, New York recalled forward Marek Hrivik from its American Hockey League affiliate in Hartford, where he registered a team-high 17 points on eight goals and nine assists in 20 games. Netminder Henrik Lundqvist's season-opening win ended a six-game skid (0-5-1) versus the Islanders.
ABOUT THE ISLANDERS (9-10-5): With the Rangers and their league-best offense coming into their building, the Islanders have picked a good time to break out of their scoring doldrums with 11 goals over the past three games. Forward Anders Lee, who began the season with one goal in his first 18 contests, has come alive with five tallies over the past six games. “I think things are going kind of the right way,” said Lee, while noting of the Rangers: “The more and more you play them, the more and more you start to dislike them, I guess."
OVERTIME
1. Islanders G Jaroslav Halak, who is 13-7-0 versus the Rangers, is expected to get the start.
2. Rangers F Rick Nash, who has four goals in his last seven games overall, has 10 tallies and 18 points in 26 games versus the Islanders.
3. The Islanders are 1-for-14 on the power play over the past six games, but they have killed all 13 penalties in that span.