It’s a battle of New York at Madison Square Garden tonight. For the third time this season, the Rangers and Islanders will be squaring off for geographic supremacy. Gerard Gallant’s squad won the first meeting back in November against a COVID-19 ravaged skeleton crew, but Barry Trotz’s Islanders earned a victory in the second game of the season series two weeks ago with a late goal to snatch a 2-1 road victory from the Blueshirts.
The Rangers have gone 6-1-0 in the seven games they’ve played since their defeat to the Islanders, while the Islanders have posted a respectable 5-3-0 record since then as they play out the string en route to missing the playoffs.