The battle of New York takes center stage on the ice Friday night as the Rangers and Islanders face off in Madison Square Garden. The rival teams have yet to really put anything together in the 2013 season, but nothing matters more than putting together a solid game against a home-town rival team.
Both the Rangers and Islanders need their seasons to take a turn if they have any hope of getting into the postseason. The Rangers have lost their last five of six games. The Isanders are not fairing must better as they have just lost their 14th of 15 games. However, the Rangers do have the heads up in the rivalry as they have won their last eight of 10 games against the Islanders. They took the last meeting 3-2, back in October.
The Rangers were hoping for different results this year. They fired John Tortorella and replaced him with former Canucks coach Alain Vigneault. So far that has not paid off. They also have the highest paid goaltender in the league in Henrik Lundqvist who signed a seven-year, $59.5 million contract extension at the start of December. Since that deal, Lundqvist is 2-3-2 with a 3.31 goals-against average. He has gotten worse to say the least.
The Islanders come to the Garden having lost three straight games. After making an impressive stand in last season's playoffs, the team was certainly hoping for a better start to the year, but they are 3-5-2 in their last 10 games. Even worse, they have lost their last 11 of 12 road games. Goalie Evgeni Nabokov will need to have a big game if the Islanders intend to get a much-needed win. The goalie is returning from a groin injury that forced him out for 12 games. He fared well in his two starters, stopping 58 of 81 shots.
