Morning Skate Updates: Islanders vs Rangers

The New York Islanders take on the New York Rangers in their final home game of the 2017-18 season. Buy tickets. Watch the game on MSG+2, or MSG GO. Listen live on 88.7FM, 103.9FM or AM970. Read the game preview. Check the game notes.

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PRINCE RETURNS:

It's been a long road back to the lineup for Shane Prince, who returns after missing 33 games with a upper-body injury. Prince, who hasn't played since Jan. 18, will take the place of Tanner Fritz, who is out sick.
Injuries have limited Prince to 12 games this season. The Islanders forward missed the first two months of the season after undergoing ankle surgery in August and was injured a month later against the Boston Bruins.
"It's been a frustrating year obviously," Prince said. "You don't want to be out that much time. It's tough, but I wanted to come back and try and play at least a couple games before the end of the season. I've felt good the last week in practice and I'm excited to get back in tonight."
Prince said that mentally it was important for him to get back in before the end of the year. If he didn't play on Thursday, he'd been looking at a nearly a nine-month layoff before the start of next season, something he just endured being off from April to December.
"The mental thing is just to get in games and go into the offseason and feel good about myself and know I can still play," Prince said.

BOYCHUK OUT FOR REST OF SEASON:

Johnny Boychuk will not play in the final two games of the regular season, as the Islanders want the defenseman to rest and get healthy for the offseason.
"His season is over. We have to get him healthy," Head Coach Doug Weight said. "It's important the age he's at and the problems he's had this year, we want to address them as soon as possible."
Weight said he wasn't sure if Boychuk, who has 18 points in 58 games this season, would require offseason surgery or just rest to shore up some issues that he's been dealing with this season. The coach said that Boychuk's physical and throwback style has taken a toll on his body, so he wants him to get a head start on his offseason recovery.
"We're still trying to figure that out. If he would need surgery it wouldn't be anything major. It would be some cleaning out," Weight said. "I think rest and I think Johnny is at the point - and we've had this discussion - that he's a good old boy from Edmonton and plays that way, but he's getting up in the years. He's 34 years old. The one thing we've gotten across to John is his importance to our team. When he's out of the lineup, we're not as good as we are when he's in. We know how much he cares, so it's a big offseason for him."
Casey Cizikas is also likely done for the year, according to Weight during Wednesday's practice.

ISLES SUCCESS VS THE RANGERS:

The Islanders have won six straight games against the Rangers and 10 of their last 11 against the Blueshirts.
Individually, Jaroslav Halak and Mathew Barzal have been two of the Islanders' best against the Rangers. Barzal has nine points (3G, 6A) in his first three games against the Rangers, including a five-point night at Madison Square Garden in January.
Halak's success dates back further, as the goalie is 10-3-0 against the Rangers since joining the Islanders in 2014. Thomas Hickey described it as a "spell" after Halak's last outing vs the Rangers, a 50-save shutout on Feb. 15.
The Islanders have been especially good against the Rangers at Barclays Center, winning all five meetings the teams have played in Brooklyn.

WEIGHT WEIGHS IN ON TAVARES:

With John Tavares' contract expiring at the end of the season, there is potential that Thursday could be his last home game with the New York Islanders. Doug Weight weighed in when asked about it after the team's morning skate.
"I'm going to go down the road of John and just look at it as another game. He earns his ice time and we hope it's not the case, but you can't get too deep into that thought process. I don't think it's healthy for me or anybody else. We're hopeful that John will be here, but only he knows how special tonight will be. Right now we just want to play to win, play hard and try to compete and hopefully he's at the forefront of it."
Weight was asked if he feels any nervousness about Tavares' situation.
"I don't think any more than when he came into the year and made the statement, which is his right. This is the last home game and you kind of see it all come to fruition now right and as the draft approaches and so forth. I think the nervousness was early and now it is what it is. He'll make a decision when he makes it and unfortunately we can't control that. People say it's like a marriage and I think that's BS. My wife controls pretty much everything I do and we don't control anything with John. I don't have nervousness. Anxiety is probably a closer word, but you have to do what you have to do as an organization no matter what. With or without him, we're going to move forward and try to win. We'd like him here."
ISLANDERS PROJECTED LINES:
Lee - Tavares - Bailey
Beauvillier - Barzal - Eberle
Ladd - Nelson - Prince
Johnston - Wagner - Clutterbuck
Leddy - Seidenberg
Pelech - Pulock
Davidson - Hickey
RANGERS PROJECTED LINES:
Kreider - Zibanejad - Spooner
Vesey - Chytil - Zuccarello
Namestnikov - Hayes - Buchnevich
Holland - Andersson - Carey
Staal - Pionk
Skjei - Sproul
Gilmour - O'Gara