Preview: Rangers Head to Brooklyn to Battle Islanders

RANGERS at ISLANDERS, 1 p.m.MSG, 98.7 FM
In the wake of Thursday's loss, Jesper Fast called it "the only good thing" - that the Rangers get a rematch with their archrivals less than 48 hours later, a Saturday matinee in Brooklyn to close out the 2018-19 season series with the Islanders.
The Isles come in as one of the league's hottest teams in the standings, but having been admittedly fortunate to get results over their last three outings, of which they have won two. The most recent of those was on Thursday at Madison Square Garden, a game in which the Rangers carried play in the third period to the tune of a 17-1 shots advantage, only to see the Islanders' one go down as the game-winner off Josh Bailey's stick with 1:26 to play. It gave the Islanders their seventh win in eight games and 10th in their last 12 (10-2-0), a run that has vaulted them into Wild Card position in the Eastern Conference standings.
And it was why David Quinn, only moments after Thursday's game had ended, was trying to move his team past it, saying: "You can't let them win two games tonight."
"I think the last two games we certainly made strides - we were a lot closer tonight to winning a hockey game than we were in Vegas, and I thought we did some good things in Vegas," the coach said, alluding to the finale of the Rangers' three-game Western road trip that preceded this home-and-home with the Islanders. "It is hard, because you want to win hockey games, and we haven't won one in a while. Maybe if we had been winning some games and this happened, you could kind of move past it."

Quinn's Rangers will be looking to halt a five-game skid on Saturday in what could be their final visit to Barclays Center, a place they have never won. They played their second-highest-scoring game of the season there back on Nov. 15, when a fast start turned into a back-and-forth game and a 7-5 loss - the Rangers' only regulation defeat during a 9-1-1 stretch in October and November.
Alexandar Georgiev stopped five shots in relief in that one, then blanked the Islanders six days later at the Garden for his first NHL shutout. The rookie has started two of the Rangers' last four games; with the Rangers playing in Columbus on Sunday evening, he is a candidate to take the nets again on Saturday if Quinn elects to split the weekend back-to-back between his goaltenders.
In any event, he should see action over the next week: The Rangers have five games remaining over eight days until they hit their bye week, a nine-day break in the schedule surrounding the NHL All-Star Game. At the end of this weekend back-to-back, the Rangers will have played seven out of their last nine games in visiting rinks - and coming off the trip out West, Quinn, who gave his group an off-day on Friday, could see some of the residue of travel lingering in the Rangers over the first two periods on Thursday until they tilted the ice in the third.
"It lingers," Quinn said, "but nobody cares. Nobody's asking you how you're feeling. I know the Islanders weren't asking us how we were feeling, nor should they. It's the National Hockey League, these are the games that everybody goes through and you've got to respond to it - and I thought we did.
"And that's the sad part. I thought under the circumstances we had a good night (on Thursday)."
"It's been a tough stretch no question. We've played better the last two games, we haven't been able to find a way to put a win away," said Marc Staal. "We're pressing in here. We're trying to do the right things to give ourselves a chance to win games."
Kevin Hayes took part in the Rangers' morning skate on Thursday wearing a red no-contact jersey, but with the center missing his fourth straight game with an upper-body injury, Quinn has had to fill the gap in his lineup, and on Thursday night put together a line of Filip Chytil, Ryan Strome and Fast. Strome and Fast each scored in the game - Strome getting his first goal against the team that drafted him in 2011, and Fast tying the score in the third period.
Fast has scored in back-to-back games, and Strome's goal was his third in the last five games. Over the Rangers' last two games, with Hayes out, Strome has had been deployed for his highest and third-highest ice-time totals in a 60-minute game since joining the Rangers in a Nov. 16 trade with Edmonton.
"I thought that might be a good balance to a line. I just thought it was time to move things around a little bit, because we haven't been that productive offensively. That line was a good line for us," Quinn said. "But we need a little bit more out of everybody if we're going to get out of this, just a little bit out of everybody. And if everybody can give us a little bit more, that'll make a big difference."

LINEUP LAST TIME OUT

20 Kreider - 93 Zibanejad - 36 Zuccarello
72 Chytil - 16 Strome - 17 Fast
26 Vesey - 21 Howden - 90 Namestnikov
8 McLeod - 24 Nieves - 89 Buchnevich
18 Staal - 44 Pionk
76 Skjei - 54 McQuaid
33 Claesson - 22 Shattenkirk
30 Lundqvist
40 Georgiev

NUMBERS GAME

The Rangers were 1-for-3 on power plays Thursday night and are 5-for-14 (35.7%) over their last four games against the Islanders.
Mika Zibanejad and Kevin Shattenkirk led all skaters in Thursday's game with six shots on goal apiece.
Robin Lehner made 16 of his 27 saves in the third period on Thursday and became the fourth goaltender in Islanders history to win eight consecutive starts.
The Islanders are 11-4-1 vs. the Metropolitan Division.

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Filip Chytil's assist on Ryan Strome's goal Thursday night gave him points in each of his three games against the Islanders this season. His two goals and three points against the Isles are the 19-year-old rookie's highest totals against any opponent.
Mathew Barzal had a goal and two assists at the Garden Thursday, giving him 14 points - nine of them goals - over his last nine games. He has 14 points (4-10-14) in seven career games against the Blueshirts.