The New York Rangers and Islanders come from impressive views against one of the league’s worst team.
As the trade deadline approaches quickly, the islanders and Rangers meet for the second time in less than a week on Monday night at Madison Square Garden in New York.
Rangers and Islanders are among six teams within five points from the Detroit Red Wings for the second Wild-Card place in the Eastern Conference.
Rangers are bound with the Ottawa Senators and Boston Bruins with 64 points. The senators have a game in their hand with Rangers and two in hand with bruins.
The islanders are in a tougher situation because their 61 points put them behind five teams with 23 matches left.
Rangers won both meetings this season with a combined 10-3 margin and rolled to a 5-1 victory on Tuesday in Elmont, new, when they got three times during the opening period.
Last week’s Rout of the Islanders have been among three wins in four matches for Rangers since an 8-2 loss to Buffalo Sabers on February 22. Rangers bounced back from a frustrating 3-2 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs with a 4-0 victory over the Nashville Rovs on Sunday when they held a three-Goal lead in the opening of 40 minutes.
Rangers improved to 14-7-3 in the last 24 games after a 4-15-0 skid, one day after shopping Ryan Lindgren and Jimmy Vesey to Colorado Avalanche. Rangers can trade other waiting unlimited free agents such as Reilly Smith, held on Sunday.
So far, Rangers have done four big business and their biggest was adding JT Miller to a January 31st agreement with Vancouver Canucks. Miller has six goals since the trade and made on power-play during the second period before Jonathan Quick made 19 of his 34 rescues in the third.
“We’re taking the point right now,” said Miller, originally traded by Rangers in their rebuilding 2018.
“We need them again tomorrow.”
The islanders come from consecutive exits in the first round with a core that includes Brock Nelson and Jean Gabriel-Pageau as unlimited free agents.
Nelson enters his 900th career’s regular seasonal game with three goals and five assists during the last five races after making twice and adding an assist in Saturday’s 7-4 route over predators that ended by goalkeeper Ilya Sorokin who scored an empty net goal after the islands scored three times in 19 shots in the opening period.
“All of these games are important for us to put as well on a run as we can together,” Nelson said.
The islanders are 3-5-0 in their last eight matches since a seven-game winning line of January 18-Feb. 1 and hope to be able to produce another big night after scoring seven goals for the first time since March 7. Pageau did only the second time in its last 20 games while Kyle Palmieri made for the fifth time in six matches.
“These games are big at this time of the season,” Pageau said. “We want to win them.”
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