Tonight at 7 p.m. ET, the New York Rangers (27-13-4, 58 points) and New York Islanders (31-14-1, 63 points) face-off for the third of five meetings this season live from the Nassau Coliseum in Long Island. The game can be live streamed here. Rangers fans can hear all of the action on 98.7 ESPN while Islanders fans can do the same on WRHU 88.7.
The Isles won five of six games to close out the first half and sit atop the Metropolitan Division while the Blueshirts won three consecutive games before the All-Star break and own the third and final automatic playoff spot in the Metropolitan.
The Islanders have gotten the best of the Rangers thus far this season, beating them 6-3 on Oct. 14 and then again 3-0 on Jan. 13.
The Rangers are looking for some revenge coming into this matchup.
"There's not a lot of like on each side, so it's a good way to jump right back in after the break," associate coach Scott Arniel said, according to the Rangers' Twitter account and NHL.com.
All-Star Rick Nash has paced the Blueshirts with 43 points and ranks tied for first in the NHL with 28 goals. Martin St. Louis is second on the Rangers with 36 points off of 14 tallies and 22 helpers while Derick Brassard has found the twine 12 times and added 23 assists for 35 points.
The Islanders will be without top-six forward Kyle Okposo as he was placed on injured reserve Tuesday with an upper-body injury.
"It's a huge loss ... [he's] one of our leaders and certainly brings so much to the table, not only his goal-scoring and his offensive ability, but he just works so hard on his game and sets an example in so many ways," captain John Tavares said of Okposo via NHL.com. "He's just a bull on the puck and on the wall and he's done a lot of gritty things too. He's blocked a lot of shots for us this year and playing a lot of minutes."
Tavares represented the Isles at the NHL All-Star Game and leads the team with 45 points off of 21 goals and 24 assists. Ryan Strome has 33 points off of eight markers and 25 assists while Brock Nelson has lit the lamp a team-best 15 times and added 15 assists for 30 points.
In net, the Isles turn to Halak and he is third in the league with 25 wins to go along with a 2.41 goals-against average and a .910 save percentage while ranking tied for third in the NHL with four shutouts.
The Blueshirts counter with Henrik Lundqvist and he is 23-9-3 with a 2.25 GAA and a .921 save percentage while ranking tied for second in the NHL with five shutouts.
Two big rivals go head-to-head in the wake of a blizzard when the puck drops on the Rangers and Islanders live tonight from the Nassau Coliseum in Long Island.
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