Can The Isles Clinch? Islanders Face Rangers with Chance to Secure Playoff Berth

The New York Islanders can punch their ticket to the dance tonight when they face the New York Rangers for the final time at Nassau Coliseum. A win in regulation means the Islanders would clinch the third of four playoff spots in the East Division up for grabs.

Considering how the New York Islanders had been playing prior to Thursday’s 4-0 shutout win of the Rangers, clinching a playoff spot and putting up another strong performance would be a strong momentum boost for the Islanders. After three sluggish games against the Washington Capitals, the Islanders managed to get back to their game in the win over the rival Rangers.

“It’s extra motivation,” Jean-Gabriel Pageau said about the chance to clinch a playoff spot. “It’s ouur last game against them too. We definitely want to end on a good note and we’re happy abput our last game, but we don’t want to be satisfied. We want to come out here and finish strong.”

Due to the struggles, the Islanders slipped down to third in the division.

But Thursday seemed to breathe new life into the team with four different players scoring, including Leo Komarov for his first goal of the season and Oliver Wahlstrom breaking a scoring slump himself.

Now the New York Islanders will need to carry that into tonight on Long Island. The Islanders still own a 19-3-3 record on home ice and have bested the Rangers twice in the previous three matchups at the Nassau Coliseum this year.

Islanders head coach Barry Trotz tinkered with his lines successfully on Thursday and said everyone was availble for tonight’s game. Trotz didn’t give any specifics about the lineup.

Alexandar Georgiev will get the start for the Rangers this evenning in the final meeting at Nassau Coliseum.

New York Islanders Lineup (Projected)

Leo Komarov — Mathew Barzal — Jordan Eberle

Anthony Beauvillier — Brock Nelson — Josh Bailey

Kyle Palmieri — Jean-Gabriel Pageau — Oliver Wahlstrom

Matt Martin — Casey Cizikas — Cal Clutterbuck

Nick Leddy — Scott Mayfield

Adam Pelech — Ryan Pulock

Andy Greene — Noah Dobson

Semyon Varlamov

Ilya Sorokin

New York Rangers Lineup (Projected)

Alexis Lafreniere — Mika Zibanejad — Pavel Buchnevich

Artemi Panarin — Ryan Strome — Colin Blackwell

Vitali Kravtsov — Filip Chytil — Kaapo Kakko

Morgan Barron — Kevin Rooney — Julien Gauthier

Libor Hajek — Adam Fox

K’Andre Miller — Brendan Smith

Tarmo Reunanen — Zac Jones

Alexandar Georgiev

Igor Shesterkin

How to Watch

Tonight’s game airs locally on MSG, MSG+2 and can be streamed on MSGGo or NHL.tv. On the radio dial, the game can be heard on 1050 AM ESPN, 88.7 FM WRHU and 103.9 FM LI News Radio.