Morning Skate Updates: Islanders vs Rangers

The New York Islanders and New York Rangers face off on Thursday night at 7 p.m.
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FRITZ IN, CHIMERA OUT:
Tanner Fritz draws back into the lineup for the first time since suffering a lower-body injury on Feb. 3. The Isles forward had skated with the team for the past three days and will play with Brock Nelson and Andrew Ladd on the third line.
"I'm definitely excited, it's been a long week-and-a-half. I feel ready to go and I'm excited to get out there," Fritz said. "It's never a good time to have an injury but I think I had a good recovery, only a week and a half so I don't think I missed too much time. I had a couple good practices and I feel ready to go."
Fritz is replacing Jason Chimera, whose ironman streak ends at 245 games. Chimera had the longest active streak on the team both overall and as an Islander (140 games). Chimera had two goals and nine assists in 58 games this season.

SEIDENBERG IN, AHO OUT:
Dennis Seidenberg draws back into the lineup for the first time since Feb. 8 vs Buffalo. Aho had played five straight games before coming out of the lineup.
ISLANDERS PROJECTED LINES:
THE ISLES-RANGERS RIVALRY:
The Islanders and Rangers renew hostilities on Thursday night at Barclays Center, where the Isles are 4-0-0 against their crosstown rivals. The Islanders are 9-1-0 in their last 10 games against the Rangers so these games have given the Isles some extra juice of late and the team weighed in on why.
Head Coach Doug Weight:
"I think it's always fun to have that rivalry. It's been amped up the last couple seasons for us. We've had good results, don't want to overthink it, just want to go enjoy it and hopefully get the same type of result."
Josh Bailey:
"It's always fun games to be a part of. I think the fans make it a special rivalry and the atmosphere you get to play in is something you always look forward too. There will be some good energy in the building, but we have to find a way to create our own energy too and have a good start and a good consistent 60 minutes."

HALAK VS THE RANGERS:
The Rangers have brought out the best in Jaroslav Halak as an Islander. Here are some of Halak's numbers vs the Blueshirts. Halak is:
9-3-0 vs the Rangers as an Islander
16-7-0 against the Rangers for his career
12-1-0 - Jaroslav Halak's record in his last 13 head-to-head games with Lundqvist.
POWER PLAY:
The Islanders have scored a power-play goal in five of their last six games, going 8-for-24 over that span.
RANGERS PROJECTED LINES:
| FORWARDS | | --- | | LEFT WING | CENTER | RIGHT WING | | RICK NASH | MIKA ZIBANEJAD | MATS ZUCCARELLO | | MICHAEL GRABNER | KEVIN HAYES | J.T. MILLER | | JIMMY VESEY | DAVID DESHARNAIS | JESPER FAST | | CODY MCLEOD | PETER HOLLAND | VINNI LETTIERI |

| DEFENSE | | --- | | BRADY SKJEI | NEAL PIONK | | NICK HOLDEN | ANTHONY DEANGELO | | JOHN GILMOUR | RYAN SPROUL |