Game Preview: Islanders at Rangers

NEW YORK ISLANDERS (27-25-7) AT NEW YORK RANGERS (30-26-4)

7 PM | MADISON SQUARE GARDEN

WATCH: MSGSN | MSG+ | ESPN+

LISTEN: 88.7FM | 103.9FM | ISLANDERS + UBS ARENA APP

The New York Islanders are on the hunt for their third straight win when they head to Madison Square Garden to take on the New York Rangers in a rivalry showdown on Monday night.

The Islanders beat the Nashville Predators 7-4 on Saturday afternoon. Ilya Sorokin’s goalie goal stole the show after Brock Nelson (2G, 1A) JG Pageau (1G, 1A), Kyle Palmieri (PPG), Bo Horvat and Casey Cizikas (1G, 1A) scored for the Islanders. Sorokin also made 24 saves.

“It’s nice for us to score seven goals,” Head Coach Patrick Roy said after the win. “I’m very happy with the performance of the team and the way we’ve been playing lately, I just want us to continue playing that way. We have an important game coming up against the Rangers, we have to be ready for that one.”

The Rangers blanked the Predators 4-0 on Sunday night. Artemi Panarin, J.T. Miller (PPG), K'Andre Miller and Brett Berard powered the offense for New York. Jonathan Quick earned his third career shutout with 34 saves in his 800^th career game.

SEASON SERIES AND STANDINGS NOTES

The Islanders trail the season series 0-2-0 after they dropped a 5-1 decision on Tuesday night at UBS Arena. The Isles have a four-game winless skid (0-3-1) at MSG. The season series will conclude on Apr. 10 at UBS Arena.

The Islanders and Rangers are three points apart in the standings and both teams are outside the playoff picture. The Rangers (64 points) trail the Detroit Red Wings (66 points) by two points for the final wild card spot in the Eastern Conference with an equal number of games played, while the Islanders (61 points) are five points back of Detroit with a game in-hand.

MORNING SKATE UPDATES

- The Islanders will go with 11 forwards and seven defensemen for Monday's game. Defenseman Scott Mayfield draws back into the lineup after sitting out three games as a healthy scratch, while Max Tsyplakov returns after sitting out Saturday's game. Anthony Duclair and Pierre Engvall are healthy scratches for Monday's game.

- With Duclair out, JG Pageau is expected to skate on a line with Anders Lee and Bo Horvat. Tsplakov is expected to play with Casey Cizikas and Hudson Fasching.

- Ilya Sorokin is the expected starter for the Islanders.

ISLES NOTES

- Brock Nelson will skate in his 900^th NHL game on Monday, all with the Isles, becoming the fifth player in team history to skate in 900 games with the club. . The center recorded his third multi-goal performance of the season on Saturday against Nashville, while his point streak also reached five games (3G, 5A). Nelson leads the team with 37 points (19G, 18A) in 50 career games against the Rangers.

- Casey Cizikas recorded his second multi-point game of the season on Saturday with a goal and an assist against the Predators.

- Hudson Fasching, who played in his second game after a 17-game absence, picked up his first point of the season with an assist on Cizikas’ goal.

- Adam Boqvist recorded his first multi-point game as an Islander with two assists against Nashville.

- Bo Horvat buried his 20th goal of the season on Saturday, which marked his eighth 20-goal campaign of his career.

- Alexander Romanov’s point streak was extended to three games (2G, 1A).

- Kyle Palmieri, who has five goals in his last six games, scored on the power play on Saturday afternoon to snap a six-game drought on the man advantage. Roy said both power-play units have been taking strides by moving the puck well as of late, so it was nice to see them get rewarded.

“It was nice to see that goal, absolutely,” Roy said after Saturday’s win. “We want to put pucks at the net. We don’t want to be too predictable, I think that’s what we did today.”

- The Isles PK is a perfect 7-for-7 over the last three games.

- The Islanders have a road record of 13-12-5.

RANGERS NOTES

- The Rangers parted ways with defenseman Ryan Lindgren and forward Jimmy Vesey on Saturday, sending both players to the Colorado Avalanche in exchange for former Islanders defenseman Calvin de Haan, forward Juuso Parssinen, a conditional second-round pick and a conditional fourth-round pick in the 2025 NHL Draft. Both newly-acquired players made their Rangers debuts on Sunday, as de Hann recorded one assist and skated 16:26, while Parssinen recorded six hits in 14:03 TOI.

- With Quick getting the start on Sunday against Nashville, Igor Shesterkin is the expected starter against the Islanders. Shesterkin is 20-21-2 this season, along with a .904 SV% and a 2.93 GAA. Against the Islanders, Shesterkin is 7-8-1 through 16 career appearances, but has won six of his last seven matchups against the blue and orange.

- Artemi Panarin leads the Rangers with 61 points (24G, 37A) this season, it's a down year after last season's 120-point campaign.

- Adam Fox, who leads the team with 43 assists, is out with an upper-body injury. The defenseman was placed on IR on Wednesday and his timeline to return is unknown.

- Chris Kreider (upper-body) missed his fourth straight game on Sunday. He was placed on IR on Saturday but is taking positive steps toward returning, as the forward skated with the team during Sunday's morning skate but did not play. Kreider has 21 points (17G, 4A) through 48 games this season. His status against the Islanders is unknown.

- Reilly Smith was kept out of the lineup on Sunday for trade-related reasons. Smith, 33, has 29 points (10G, 19A) through 58 games in his first season with the Rangers.

- The Rangers own the league’s fourth-best penalty kill (82.4%).