RANGERS AT ISLANDERS GAME DAY PREVIEW 4/5

RANGERSTOWN INVADES BROOKLYN

New York Rangers (34-37-9, 7th) at New York Islanders (33-37-10, 8th)

TONIGHT 7:99 PM, MSG, MSG+2, WEPN

Barclays Center: Brooklyn, NY

The Battle for 8th Place? Both the Rangers and Islanders faceoff tonight without playoff positioning on the line but with the teams separated by only 1 point in the standings it looks as though a chance at a draft lottery spot is on the line. The 7th place Metro Division Rangers who will miss the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time since 2004-2005 season lead the Islanders by one slim point with crosstown rivals Islanders having one less loss and the extra point due to one more overtime loss with 10 to the Rangers 9.

This is the fourth and final meeting between the Rangers and Islanders. The Isles lead the series three games to none (4-3 on October 19, 7-2 on December 13 & 3-0 on February 15). Kevin Hayes leads the Rangers with 2 goals against the Islanders, Mats Zuccarello, David Desharnais and Mika Zibanejad each have a goal in the three games. Henrik Lundqvist has two of the Rangers losses and Ondrej Pavelec one and was pulled in his last start against the Isles surrendering 5 goals on 19 shots back on January 13th’s 7-2 loss at MSG.

Pavelec will get the start tonight for the Rangers while Lundqvist will get the nod for the final game of the season in Philadelphia on Saturday. Mats Zuccarello who missed the last game in New Jersey due to lower body bruising should make his return tonight depending on his pain threshold. Zuccarello did participate in a full practice yesterday and said he will be available if the Rangers deem he is needed for the game tonight. The Blueshirts will still be without Jesper Fast who suffered a groin injury in the game against Carolina. Cody McLeod who suffered an abdominal pain and was a late scratch in New Jersey is questionable for tonight in Brooklyn.

At yesterday's Practice Alain Vigneault deployed the Lines of: Chris Kreider, Mika Zibanejad, Ryan Spooner - Jimmy Vesey, Filip Chytil, Mats Zuccarello - Vlad Namestnikov, Kevin Hayes, Pavel Buchnevich - Peter Holland, Lias Andersson, Paul Carey. On defense, Marc Staal was paired with Neal Pionk, Brady Skjei with Ryan Sproul and John Gilmour with Rob O'Gara.

TEAM LEADERS

Rangers

POINTS: Mats Zuccarello 52

GOALS: Mika Zibanejad 27

ASSISTS: Mats Zuccarello 36

Islanders

POINTS: John Tavares 83

GOALS: Anders Lee 39

ASSISTS: Mathew Barzal 60