The Rangers and Islanders meet again, this time at MSG. A week ago, the two sides faced off on the Island. The Blueshirts' bottom-six led the way in a 5-1 victory. Tonight, the stakes are similar to last week, as each team is still fighting for their playoff lives.

Rangers lineup tonight vs. Islanders:

Panarin-Trocheck-Lafrenière
Cuylle-Miller-Zibanejad
Othmann-Pärssinen-Brodzinski
Berard-Carrick-Rempe

Miller-Borgen
Vaakanainen-Schneider
de Haan-Jones

Shesterkin
Quick

Scratches: Smith (roster management), Kaliyev, Robertson
IR: Edström (lower-body), Fox (upper-body), Kreider (upper-body)

The lines and d-pairings changed from the last meeting due to trades, call ups and scratches. The task though remains the same. Get traffic in front of Ilya Sorokin to take away his sight lines. That was the key difference in the prior meeting, spurred by Matt Rempe parking his tall body in front and not allowing Sorokin to see the puck.

Yesterday it was the Jonathan Quick show, especially in the third period, when he stoped all 19 shots. Tonight, Igor Shesterkin gets a chance to notch his second straight victory against his compatriot. New York controlled the play the first two periods versus the Predators with Jusso Parssinen and Calvin de Hahn getting their feet wet. They get a taste of a real rivalry tonight at MSG in what will be a highly different atmosphere.

Reilly Smith will be a healthy scratch again as the Bluehshirts protect their asset before the trade deadline. The Cuylle-Miller-Zibanejad were solid while Artemi Panarin seems to regaining the jump we have not seen for a while. I have a hunch Brennan Othmann gets one tonight.

Zac Jones acquitted himself well yesterday, as did K'andre Miller thriving with the additional minutes and responsibility following the trade of Ryan Lindgren and absence of Adam Fox. Both d-men along with the other four will need to be smart tonight against an Isles team that doesn't generate a ton off the rush, but will find the trailer.

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