Tonight at 7:00 p.m. ET, the New York Islanders (20-24-7, 47 points) and New York Rangers (27-21-3, 57 points skate against each other for the third of five meetings this season live from Madison Square Garden in New York City. The game can be live streamed here. Islander fans can hear all of the action on WRHU 88.7 while Ranger fans can do the same on 98.7 ESPN New York.
The Islanders have pulled within five points of the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference while the Rangers have gone 11-3-1 in their past 15 games to pull to second place in the Metropolitan Division. The Rangers beat the Islanders 3-2 at the Nassau Coliseum on Oct. 29 while the Islanders took the last game at Madison Square Garden with a 5-3 win on Dec. 20.
The Rangers recent surge has been due to Henrik Lundqvist and Rick Nash each finding their game.
"I think there's an expectation from Rick himself and our group that he's going to find a way to contribute and get on that score sheet, just like there's an expectation from our group that Hank's going to stop the puck and give us a chance to win," Rangers coach Alain Vigneault said per NHL.com. "Those players are elite players that are difference-makers that need to find a way to make a difference in a positive way, and that's what those guys are doing for us right now."
Lundqvist is sidelined with an illness, so Cam Talbot will start for the Rangers and is 10-3-0 with a 1.62 goals-against average and a .940 save percentage while the Islanders will likely to start Kevin Poulin, who is 10-14-0 with a 3.10 GAA and a .895 save percentage.
The Islanders split a back-to-back with the Philadelphia Flyers.
"[Wins] within the division is huge," Kyle Okposo said per NHL.com. "Obviously, we let one slip away the last game in Philly there, so we wanted to come out and bear down and get two points. We gave them a point, but that second point was huge for us.
The Rangers have been led offensively by Brad Richards (13-24-37), Mats Zuccarello (13-22-35) and Derek Stepan (9-22-31) while the Islanders have been paced by John Tavares (23-36-59), Okposo (20-29-49) and Thomas Vanek (17-26-43). Richards has a point in eight of his last nine games while Vanek is on a five-game point streak and Tavares in on a three-game points streak.
Two fierce rivals go head-to-head when the Rangers and Islanders square off when the lights come up tonight at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
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