GDT: #18| New York Rangers @ New York Islanders | November 15th | 7:00 PM | F/W 7-5

[MattMartin]

Game Preview: Islanders vs Rangers


NEW YORK ISLANDERS (9-6-2) VS NEW YORK RANGERS (9-7-2)
7 P.M. | BARCLAYS CENTER | BUY TICKETS
WATCH: MSG | MSG+2 | MSG GO | NHL.TV
LISTEN: 88.7FM WRHU | 103.9FM LI NEWS | RADIO.COM

The New York Islanders and New York Rangers always play for pride, but there's a little more on the line when the arch rivals meets on Thursday night at Barclays Center.
The Isles and Rangers are tied with 20 points apiece and currently hold the second and third seeds in the Metropolitan Division. It's too early to be a make-or-break game for either side, but in an ultra-tight division, it's a chance to create a little separation.

THE RIVALRY

The Islanders have owned the Rangers over the past three seasons, going 11-1-0 over that span. The Isles have won seven straight games against the Rangers and are a perfect 6-0-0 at Barclays Center.
Barry Trotz, one of the newcomers to the Isles-Rangers rivalry, said he's looking forward to the hostilities on Thursday.

"I'm looking forward to it. I hear it's really good, really intense and no different than in my previous stop the first time we played against the Penguins. You don't know until you know. I'm looking forward to it and it should be exciting. From what I hear it's always a special game."

Islanders-Rangers games have been notoriously combative, both on the ice and in the stands, since the Islanders joined the NHL in 1972. The Rangers have earned three more wins (125-122) over the Islanders and hold a narrow 878-861 lead in goals scored

The Islanders have dominated the series the last three seasons. They have won the last seven games in the series and are 11-1-0 against the Rangers since moving to Barclays Center, where they have never lost to the Blueshirts.

Lundqvist and Thomas Greiss, each of whom earned the win over the Canucks earlier this week, are expected to face each other in a battle of number one goalies Thursday night. Lundqvist made 25 saves against Vancouver on Monday, when he recorded the 437th victory of his career to move into a tie for seventh-place on the NHL's all-time wins list with Jacques Plante. Greiss made 22 saves Tuesday.

ISLANDERS NOTES

- Andrew Ladd and Casey Cizikas were both absent from Wednesday's practice. Ladd left Tuesday's win over Vancouver with a lower-body injury, while Cizikas had an undisclosed ailment.
"They were a little nicked up, so they are being assessed," Head Coach Barry Trotz said on Wednesday. "We'll see where they are tomorrow. Can't confirm or deny they're in or out because I haven't heard yet."

Tom Kuhnhackl skated in Ladd's spot during Wednesday's practice, while the Isles iced a makeshift fourth line of Matt Martin, Cal Clutterbuck and Ross Johnston in lieu of Cizikas.

- Matt Martin practiced with the Islanders for the first time since Nov. 1, but was ruled out for Thursday's game.

- Luca Sbisa could play his 500th career NHL game on Thursday if he's in the lineup.

- The Islanders are 6-0-0 in divisional games this season, matching the franchise record for best start vs the division set in 1982-83.

- Brock Nelson (1G, 3A) and Mathew Barzal (1G, 3A) are both riding three-game point streaks.

RANGERS NOTES

- The Rangers enter Thursday's game as one of the hottest teams in the NHL, going 7-2-1 in their last 10 games and 6-0-1 in their last seven. The hot stretch has made up for a sluggish 2-5-1 start to the season, but the Rangers have played themselves back near the top of the division.

- Mika Zibanejad leads the Rangers with 15 points and is tied with Kevin Hayes for the team lead in assists (8). Chris Kreider leads the Rangers with eight goals.

- The Rangers recalled goalie Marek Mazanec from Hartford (AHL) on Wednesday and assigned Alexandar Georgiev to the Wolf Pack.
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Probable Starting Goalies

Henrik Lundqvist

Goalie Stats:
PLAYER	GP	W	L	OTL	GAA	TOI	SV	SV%	SHO	TGA	TSA	PIM
Henrik Lundqvist	14	6	6	2	2.54	851:19	432	.923	0	36	468	0
Alexandar Georgiev	4	3	1	0	3.62	248:25	130	.897	0	15	145	2

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Lundqvist is 30-20-7 in 59 career appearances against the Islanders.



Thomas Greiss

Goalies Stats
Player	GP	GS	W	L	T	OT	SA	GA	GAA	S	Sv%	SO	MIN
Thomas Greiss	10	8	5	2	0	1	275	17	1.98	258	.938	1	515
Robin Lehner	9	9	4	4	0	1	279	22	2.59	257	.921	1	509

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Greiss was the first goalie off of the ice at the Islanders morning skate.
Greiss allowed two goals on 24 shots in the Islanders win over the Canucks on Tuesday. Greiss has been really good this season, especially as of late. In his last four games, Greiss is 3-0-1 with a 1.68 GAA, .944 SV% and one shutout. He should continue his strong play against a Rangers team that is the fifth lowest scoring team in the NHL.

Greiss is 3-0-1 in five games against the Rangers
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Team Stats

Islanders
Player	GP	G	A	P	+/-	PIM	PPG	PPP	SHG	SHP	GWG	OTG	S	S%	FO%
Josh Bailey	17	6	12	18	9	6	2	7	1	1	1	1	31	19.4	41.18
Mathew Barzal	17	2	14	16	-8	12	0	8	0	0	0	0	28	7.1	41.42
Anders Lee	17	5	9	14	9	23	4	6	0	0	1	0	50	10	44.23
Brock Nelson	17	8	5	13	8	6	0	0	0	0	0	0	34	23.5	43.68
Valtteri Filppula	17	5	4	9	6	2	0	0	1	1	1	0	15	33.3	49.79
Jordan Eberle	17	5	4	9	-6	6	3	4	0	0	3	0	35	14.3	37.5
Casey Cizikas	16	5	4	9	6	10	0	0	1	2	0	0	23	21.7	56.6
Andrew Ladd	14	3	4	7	3	10	0	0	0	1	0	0	21	14.3	50
Scott Mayfield	15	2	5	7	6	22	0	0	1	1	0	0	11	18.2	0
Leo Komarov	17	2	4	6	3	14	0	0	0	0	0	0	18	11.1	42.86
Ryan Pulock	17	1	4	5	0	2	0	1	0	0	1	0	35	2.9	0
Adam Pelech	15	1	4	5	2	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	25	4	0
Matt Martin	11	3	1	4	4	18	0	0	0	0	0	0	13	23.1	25
Tom Kuhnhackl	7	3	1	4	4	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	7	42.9	0
Cal Clutterbuck	15	1	2	3	-1	26	1	1	0	0	0	0	17	5.9	41.18
Nick Leddy	17	0	3	3	-1	6	0	2	0	0	0	0	17	0	0
Johnny Boychuk	17	0	2	2	5	4	0	1	0	1	0	0	35	0	0
Thomas Hickey	17	0	2	2	9	10	0	0	0	0	0	0	22	0	0
Ross Johnston	3	0	2	2	2	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0
Anthony Beauvillier	16	1	0	1	-10	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	26	3.8	40
Luca Sbisa	4	0	1	1	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

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Rangers
PLAYER	GP	G	A	PTS	+/-	PIM	ATOI	PPG	PPA	SHG	SHA	SOG	SPCT
Mika Zibanejad, C	18	7	8	15	-4	14	20:26	2	3	2	0	69	10.1
Chris Kreider, LW	18	8	5	13	3	12	17:10	2	2	0	0	47	17.0
Kevin Hayes, C	18	3	8	11	2	4	19:18	1	1	0	0	42	7.1
Mats Zuccarello, RW	15	3	7	10	-4	6	19:23	1	3	0	0	24	12.5
Jimmy Vesey, LW	18	6	4	10	1	9	16:39	1	0	0	0	40	15.0
Neal Pionk, D	16	3	7	10	-8	4	23:05	1	6	0	0	28	10.7
Brett Howden, C	17	4	6	10	1	4	15:17	0	2	0	0	20	20.0
Pavel Buchnevich, LW	14	5	4	9	0	2	14:53	1	1	0	0	19	26.3
Tony DeAngelo, D	10	2	5	7	5	15	19:19	0	2	0	0	12	16.7
Jesper Fast, RW	18	1	6	7	0	6	16:00	0	0	0	0	29	3.4
Brady Skjei, D	18	1	6	7	0	10	22:03	0	0	0	1	24	4.2
Vladislav Namestnikov, C	17	1	5	6	-5	4	13:21	0	0	0	1	22	4.5
Kevin Shattenkirk, D	17	1	4	5	1	0	18:18	1	1	0	0	32	3.1
Filip Chytil, C	18	1	3	4	-3	4	12:12	1	1	0	0	27	3.7
Marc Staal, D	18	0	3	3	1	8	18:37	0	0	0	0	20	0.0
Brendan Smith, D	16	1	2	3	-5	27	17:11	0	0	0	0	12	8.3
Adam McQuaid, D	8	0	2	2	-2	4	16:14	0	0	0	1	3	0.0
Ryan Spooner, C	16	1	1	2	-5	0	12:41	0	0	0	0	24	4.2
Cody McLeod, LW	12	0	0	0	-5	37	7:18	0	0	0	0	12	0.0
Fredrik Claesson, D	6	0	0	0	3	5	16:16	0	0	0	0	7	0.0
Vinni Lettieri, C	12	0	0	0	-4	4	9:23	0	0	0	0	15	0.0
Lias Andersson, C	4	0	0	0	0	6	11:51	0	0	0	0	4	0.0

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EASTERN CONFERENCE	W	L	OTL	PTS	GP	ROW	SOW	SOL	GF	GA	GD	HOME	AWAY	L10	STRK
Lightning	12	5	1	25	18	11	1	0	64	50	14	7-3-0	5-2-1	6-4-0	L2
Maple Leafs	12	6	0	24	18	12	0	0	63	47	16	5-5-0	7-1-0	6-4-0	W1
Bruins	10	6	2	22	18	10	0	0	56	47	9	7-2-0	3-4-2	6-4-0	L1
Blue Jackets	10	6	2	22	18	10	0	1	58	59	-1	4-4-1	6-2-1	6-2-2	W1
Sabres	10	6	2	22	18	9	1	0	55	53	2	6-2-1	4-4-1	6-2-2	W3
Canadiens	9	6	3	21	18	7	2	0	60	61	-1	6-3-1	3-3-2	4-5-1	L1
Islanders	9	6	2	20	17	8	1	1	54	44	10	4-1-2	5-5-0	6-2-2	W1
Rangers	9	7	2	20	18	5	4	0	52	55	-3	6-3-0	3-4-2	7-2-1	W2
Flyers	9	8	1	19	18	8	1	0	58	62	-4	4-5-0	5-3-1	5-4-1	L1
Capitals	8	7	3	19	18	7	1	1	60	61	-1	5-3-2	3-4-1	4-5-1	L1
Hurricanes	8	7	3	19	18	7	1	1	50	54	-4	4-3-2	4-4-1	4-4-2	W1
Red Wings	8	8	2	18	18	6	2	1	53	61	-8	5-4-1	3-4-1	7-3-0	W4
Panthers	7	5	3	17	15	6	1	2	49	46	3	3-3-1	4-2-2	6-3-1	W5
Penguins	7	6	3	17	16	7	0	2	53	51	2	3-4-1	4-2-2	4-5-1	L1
Senators	7	8	3	17	18	7	0	0	62	76	-14	5-3-2	2-5-1	3-5-2	L1
Devils	7	8	1	15	16	7	0	0	49	56	-7	6-1-1	1-7-0	3-6-1	W1

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Click to read more...

 

[MattMartin]

Last Game Lineups

Islanders
LW	C	RW
Goals: 5 Assists: 9	Goals: 2 Assists: 14	Goals: 6 Assists: 12
Goals: 1 Assists: 0	Goals: 8 Assists: 5	Goals: 5 Assists: 4
Goals: 3 Assists: 1	Goals: 5 Assists: 4	Goals: 2 Assists: 4
Goals: 0 Assists: 2	Goals: 0 Assists: 0	Goals: 1 Assists: 2

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DEFENSIVE PAIRINGS	Defense
Goals: 0 Assists: 3	Goals: 1 Assists: 4
Goals: 0 Assists: 2	Goals: 2 Assists: 5
Goals: 0 Assists: 1	Goals: 0 Assists: 2

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Rangers:
LW	C	RW
Goals: 1 Assists: 3	Goals: 3 Assists: 7	Goals: 3 Assists: 7
Goals: 8 Assists: 5	Goals: 3 Assists: 8	Goals: 1 Assists: 5
Goals: 6 Assists: 4	Goals: 4 Assists: 6	Goals: 1 Assists: 6
Goals: 0 Assists: 0	Goals: 0 Assists: 0	Goals: 0 Assists: 0

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DEFENSIVE PAIRINGS	Defense
Goals: 1 Assists: 6	Goals: 2 Assists: 5
Goals: 0 Assists: 3	Goals: 3 Assists: 7
33 FREDRIK CLAESSON Goals: 0 Assists: 0​	Goals: 1 Assists: 4

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[Kevin27NYI]

I'll be there with my brother, can't wait actually. I look forward to these games now!

Battling for second place, crazy.

 

[seafoam]

Hype

 

[Bones45]

Tix for this game can be purchased for $50/$60 including Stubhub fees.

Bizarre.

This rivalry is on life support.

 

[doublechili]

This rivalry is on life support.

What do you mean? This is the first game of the year in the annual battle for the Lafontaine Cup!!

Whatever happened to that, BTW?

 

[seafoam]

Tix for this game can be purchased for $50/$60 including Stubhub fees.

Bizarre.

This rivalry is on life support.

The weather is suppose to be ass, and Brooklyn draws weak during weekday games anyway.

 

[13th Floor]

Finally get to to play for the Stanley Cup!

Will miss the next bunch of games travelling out of the country. Hope to wake up to good news on DTMTS after each game.

 

[Bones45]

The weather is suppose to be ass, and Brooklyn draws weak during weekday games anyway.

Please tell me you are kidding.

 

[seafoam]

Please tell me you are kidding.

Last night was one of the least attended games since they’ve been in Barclays.

I feel like a lot of people have given up on going there since there’s good reason to believe they’ll play at the Coli full time starting next season and they only have about ~15 more games left there anyway.

What are you referring to?

 

[PK Cronin]

Tix for this game can be purchased for $50/$60 including Stubhub fees.

Bizarre.

This rivalry is on life support.

Tickets to the game at the Garden are $100+ the Wednesday before Thanksgiving (I'd be thrilled for some $60 tickets). It's just the arena and everyone being able to go to games at the Coliseum later on.

 

[Bones45]

Last night was one of the least attended games since they’ve been in Barclays.

I feel like a lot of people have given up on going there since there’s good reason to believe they’ll play at the Coli full time starting next season and they only have about ~15 more games left there anyway.

What are you referring to?

Weather and mid-week status shouldn't be a deciding factor in attendance in a heated rivalry....

if there actually is a heated rivalry.

The players haven't really cared about it for years now -- and judging by the attendance, neither do the fans!!

 

[seafoam]

Weather and mid-week status shouldn't be a deciding factor in attendance in a heated rivalry....

if there actually is a heated rivalry.

The players have really cared about it for years now -- and judging by the attendance, neither do the fans!!

I agree with the bolded, sorry that wasn’t clear.

Just saying I think most of the fanbase has checked out of supporting the team in Brooklyn. In general, the rivalry has felt a bit dormant though.

 

[Bones45]

I agree with the bolded, sorry that wasn’t clear.

Just saying I think most of the fanbase has checked out of supporting the team in Brooklyn. In general, the rivalry has felt a bit dormant though.

100% on the bolded.

I think we need, dare I say.. a Fleury or Avery moment to ramp things up...

 

[PK Cronin]

100% on the bolded.

I think we need, dare I say.. a Fleury or Avery moment to ramp things up...

How about a conference final?

 

[Bones45]

How about a conference final?

I'm a bit more realistic in my suggestion, but sure...

 

[Kevin27NYI]

Just saying I think most of the fanbase has checked out of supporting the team in Brooklyn. In general, the rivalry has felt a bit dormant though.

Yes and yes. It's nice kicking their asses every year though, feel like we've won 15 straight

How about a conference final?

Both please

 

[PK Cronin]

I'm a bit more realistic in my suggestion, but sure...

You're right, the Rags would have to drop into a Wild Card spot for that to happen.

 

[Mr Misunderstood]

I still hate them more than the Leafs.

 

[Glory Days]

I still hate them more than the Leafs.

I hate the Rags more than any team in any sport.

 

[GrandmaSlices51631]

Have to bring a physical game. This rivalry ain’t what it used to be but that doesn’t mean we take it easy on these scumbags


Get Johnston out there at puck drop and set the tone early.

This will be Barzals breakout game this season so everyone enjoy it

 

[crasherino]

I agree with the bolded, sorry that wasn’t clear.

Just saying I think most of the fanbase has checked out of supporting the team in Brooklyn. In general, the rivalry has felt a bit dormant though.

I would be highly surprised if there aren't more Rags fans there tomorrow. It may not even be close.

 

[MattMartin]

Islanders' Matt Martin: Unavailable Thursday

Martin (upper body) will not be in action against the Rangers on Thursday, Andrew Gross of Newsday reports.
Martin will miss his sixth straight game due to his upper-body issue. Despite averaging just 9:53 of ice time, the winger has tallied four points in 11 outings and was providing decent depth scoring prior to getting hurt. With Martin out and Andrew Ladd (leg) and Casey Cizikas (undisclosed) both questionable, the Isles may need to call up a player or two from the minors.

While practicing marked progress for Martin, Barry Trotz ruled the Isles winger out of Thursday's game against the New York Rangers.


New York Islanders✔@NYIslanders
#Isles lines today in practice drills:

Lee-Barzal-Bailey
Kuhnhackl-Nelson-Eberle
Beauvillier-Filppula-Komarov
Johnston-Clutterbuck-Martin

 

[MJF]

Let’s PDO our way to another 2 points.

 

[Glory Days]

Islanders' Matt Martin: Unavailable Thursday

Martin (upper body) will not be in action against the Rangers on Thursday, Andrew Gross of Newsday reports.
Martin will miss his sixth straight game due to his upper-body issue. Despite averaging just 9:53 of ice time, the winger has tallied four points in 11 outings and was providing decent depth scoring prior to getting hurt. With Martin out and Andrew Ladd (leg) and Casey Cizikas (undisclosed) both questionable, the Isles may need to call up a player or two from the minors.

I doubt it would be one of the kids if it is only going to be for a game or two. My guess is Fritz is back.