The New York Rangers haven’t hit the road to face the New York Islanders since April 10, when Rangers fans filled UBS Arena and roared as their team cruised to a lopsided victory that called the Islanders’ short- and long-term future into question.
The Islanders hope to show their rivals how far they have come since then Saturday night when they host the Rangers as both teams return to post-holiday play in Elmont, New York.
Both teams entered the break with comeback victories over their Metropolitan Division rivals on Tuesday night, when the host Islanders beat the New Jersey Devils 2-1 and the visiting Rangers scored five goals in the third period for a 7-3 win over the Washington Capitals.
Adam Pelech scored the game-winning goal with 1:15 left in the third to propel the Islanders to another smart victory. They are 8-6-2 since Nov. 20, when defenseman Alexander Romanov suffered a season-ending right shoulder injury during a 5-0 win over the Detroit Red Wings. Another key player, right winger Kyle Palmieri, was lost for the season with a left knee injury eight days later.
The Islanders have scored three goals or fewer in 13 of their last 16 games, including their last five without leading scorer Bo Horvat, who is out with a left ankle injury. Horvat is expected to return Saturday along with goalkeeper Ilya Sorokin, who sat out Tuesday due to what the club described as “a little nagging issue.”
Despite the spate of injuries, the Islanders sit third in the Metropolitan Division and just three points behind the Carolina Hurricanes and Detroit Red Wings, who share the Eastern Conference lead with 47 points.
Such a situation was hard to imagine when the Islanders lost to the Rangers 9-2 on April 10, seven days before the Islanders completed a season in which they missed the playoffs by nine points.
But Mathieu Darche, who replaced Lou Lamoriello as president of hockey operations, has infused the Islanders’ veterans with young talent such as first-round draft pick Matthew Schaefer as well as left winger Emil Heineman, who has 12 goals and six assists.
“There’s a lot to see, a lot of enthusiasm from our team,” Islanders center and captain Anders Lee said. “We have a lot of young talent, new blood and we play good hockey.”
The Rangers have also been undermanned and looking for offense after a reset last spring, when they missed the playoffs by six points after winning the Presidents’ Trophy and advancing to the Eastern Conference finals in 2023-24. Peter Laviolette was fired after two seasons and replaced by Mike Sullivan, who led the Pittsburgh Penguins to two Stanley Cups during his decade in the Steel City.
The Rangers also cut former captain Chris Kreider as well as K’Andre Miller to complete an overhaul that began last season with the trades of Jacob Trouba and Reilly Smith.
Defenseman Adam Fox, who ranks third on the team with 26 points despite missing the last 12 games with an upper-body injury, is expected to return Saturday for the Rangers, who are tied for the final wild card spot in the Eastern Conference despite scoring just 104 goals, the second-fewest total in the East.
Captain JT Miller (upper body injury), whose 22 points are fifth on the club, went on injured reserve Monday.
Still, the Rangers hope the third-period explosion is a sign of things to come offensively. Before Tuesday, the Rangers had scored more than five goals in a game just four times in their first 41 games.
“I was happy for the players,” Sullivan said. “They’ve been working really hard to try to generate more offense. It’s nice to see the puck go in the net for them.”
–Field level media
