RANGERS VS ISLANDERS GAME DAY PREVIEW 11/21

Rangers Face Islanders Looking to Continue Home Streak

New York Rangers (11-8-2) vs New York Islanders (10-7-2)

Madison Square Garden, NYC, NY

TONIGHT 7:00 PM, MSG+, MSG2, ESPN-NY

The Rangers come into tonight's contest two games seperated from a 7-5 loss to the Islanders in Brooklyn where they have not seen a win since the Islanders moved there from Uniondale. Tonight they hope to continue their winning streak at home after they defeated first the Florida Panthers Saturday 4-2 and most recently the Dallas Stars in a well earned win on Monday 2-1 , looking for their 7th in a row on home ice.

The Rangers (11-8-2) have won eight of their last 10 games (8-1-1). The only game in that span in which they didn't collect a point was against the hosting Islanders last Thursday. The "rebuilding" Rangers currently sit in second place in the close Metropolitan Division with 24, 1 point shy of first place Columbus and 1 point ahead of 3rd place Washington. The Isles trail the Rangers by 2 points with 22 on the season, sitting in thr Metro 4th.

Alexander Georgiev will get the start tonight at MSG. Georgiev suffered the loss in Brooklyn after replacing starter Henrik Lundqvist to start the 3rd Period with the Rangers down 5-3, The Rangers came back to score 2 more goals to make it 6-5 only to lose 7-5 after an empty net goal. Due to giving up the 6th goal to the Isles, Georgiev suffered the loss. In 5 games played this season Georgiev is 3-2 with a GAA of 3.61 and a SV% of .894 in 4 starts.

Rookie Filip Chytil also looks to keep his personal scoring streak going as he has scored a goal in each of his last 4. A Rangers record he now owns as the youngest to ever do so.

Brady Skjei is expected to return to the lineup tonight after being a healthy scratch for the last two. It is not known who we will see come out in favor of Skjei as Brandan Smith has picked up a point (goal & assist) in the two games he has replaced Skjei. Marc Staal is the only Rangers defenseman to have yet sit a game on the bench. Coach Quinn also has the option of going with 7 defensemen which he has already done this season. If Quinn goes that route than either 4th liners Cody McLeod or recently called up Steven Fogarty may sit.

Ryan Strome will face the Islanders for the first time wearing a Blueshirt since coming over from Edmonton in exchange for Ryan Spooner. Strome was the Islanders number 5 pick overall in the 2011 NHL Entry Draft.

Mats Zuccarello is set to miss his third straight game and sixth in the past seven with a right-groin strain. Henrik Lundqvist and Mika Zibanejad took maintenance days yesterday and did not participate in formal practice, Zibanejad is expected to play tonight.

The Islanders who are 0-1 since Thursday a 6-2 loss to Dallas on Sunday which saw Thomas Greiss pulled in favor of Robin Lehner.

RANGERS TEAM LEADERS:
Points: Chris Kreider 18, Goals: Chris Kreider 11, Assists: Mika Zibanejad 10

ISLANDERS TEAM LEADERS:
Points: Josh Bailey 19, Goals: Brock Nelson 9, Assists: Matthew Barzal 16


RANGERS ALL-TIME RECORD vs ISLANDERS
Overall. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125-114-19-9 (278 pts)
Home Record. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71-45-11-6 (159 pts)
Road Record. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54-69-8-3 (119 pts)
Goals For. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 877
Goals Against. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 852
Shutouts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14, last – 4/13/2013 (1-0, OT; Lundqvist)
LAST TIME
Last Ranger Win at MSG. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10/13/2016 (5-3)
Last Ranger Win at Brooklyn*. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3/10/2015 (2-1)
Last Islander Win at MSG. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1/13/2018 (7-2)
Last Islander Win at Brooklyn. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11/15/2018 (7-5)

HEAD TO HEAD 2017-2018
2018-04-05 NYR @ NYI 1-2 L
2018-02-15 NYR @ NYI 0-3 L
2018-01-13 NYR  NYI 2-7 L
2017-10-19 NYR  NYI 3-4 L SO

2018-2019
2018-11-15 NYR@NYI 7-5 L