Tuesday, March 4, 2008

Rangers vs. Islanders Preview


Tonight the New York Rangers (34-24-8) host the New York Islanders (31-29-7). The Rangers will be trying to match their longest winning streak of the season. The Rangers won five in a row Nov. 8-17, but matching that streak likely won’t be easy. They are just 4-7-1 against the Islanders since the start of last season, including 1-3-0 in 2007-08. The Islanders have dropped four of five to fall five points out of a playoff spot. The Islanders rank last in the Eastern Conference with 161 goals. However, they aren’t far behind the Rangers, who have 170. Despite their lackluster offensive numbers this season, the Rangers have scored at least four goals in each of their last five games. For a full recap go to Yahoo! Sports.

...big home and home vs. the Isles. If we can sweep them, their pretty much out of the playoffs.

...great night for the Rangers on the scoreboard last night as Boston, Montreal and Ottawa all lost.

...the Islanders are coming in as a desperate team, so if the Rangers put forth the same effort they did against Philly, they'll lose.

...Lundqvist is back between the pipes and I expect a nice bounce back game for him. Especially since some guy named Craig Anderson just made 53 saves in a shutout against the Islanders on Sunday.

...according to Sam Weinman at The Rangers Report, the Rangers will have the same lineup tonight against the Isles, meaning Jason Strudwick, Ryan Hollweg, and Petr Prucha will all be scratches. It's going to be hard for any of these guys to crack the lineup if the team keeps playing this way.

...Weinman also reports that Backman will be getting some time on the power play tonight. Despite all the penalties, Backman obviously has offensive talent which should help the power play. Hey it can't get any worse.

...I'll be at the game tonight, so I'm pretty fired up.

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