New York Rangers look for preseason bounce back against Islanders
After a disappointing 3-2 loss on Thursday to the New Jersey Devils, the Rangers are right back in action tonight as they face off against the New York Islanders for the second and final time this preseason. The Rangers now hold a 1-2-0 record at the halfway mark of exhibition play, while the Islanders sit at 1-1-0 after their win against the Philadelphia Flyers. One area of concern in the preseason is the Rangers power play that went 0-3 against the Devils and are 0-10 overall.
“We didn’t have the pop and didn’t seem comfortable with the puck,” coach Peter Laviolette explained. “Power play and penalty kill is something we’re just hitting on in practice, after games 5 and 6 (of the preseason), we’re start to fine tune that in.”
This will be the second installment of the Battle of New York and if it is anything like the first then we should see a fast paced, physical, exciting game. These two teams will look to pick up right where they left off when the puck drops at UBS Arena. The Islanders will look to get revenge from the last time these teams met, and the Rangers will look to bounce back from last night’s loss with a short turnaround.
Despite the Rangers being on a back-to-back, there are plenty of fresh legs who did not get a chance to play in last night’s game against the Devils. Among them is forward Artemi Panarin, who is coming back from injury. Panarin was a full participant in Thursday’s practice, while Filip Chytil remains out and is still considered day-to-day. It certainly seems likely that Panarin makes his preseason debut tonight against the Islanders.
Update: Tonight’s potential lineup. Read More
Here’s tonight’s game and broadcast info:
- Date/Time: September 30, 2023 at 7:00 PM ET
- Arena: UBS Arena
- TV: MSG, MSGSN
- Radio: TBD
Note: Subject to change, updated for each game
New York Rangers vs New York Islanders
It will be interesting to see how the battles play out for the last remaining roster spots over the next three games. Erik Gustafsson and Zac Jones both impressed head coach Peter Laviolette once again.
“I thought he was good, I thought that pair played really well, they’re both fighting to make a good impression and I thought they did that tonight,” Laviolette said of Jones and his partner Ty Emberson.
As for Gustafsson, “I think he’s played well in the games he’s played in, he’s looked good in scrimmages and he had some nice plays out there tonight as well. He’s a skater, he’s a puck mover, he’s constantly looking to jump and create, and he looked comfortable.” High praise for the 31 year-old defensemen who should feel right at home reuniting with Laviolette and his system.
It is possible that these defensemen get extended looks and are inserted right back into the lineup. In addition, Laviolette may want to experiment with a defensive pairing of Jacob Trouba and Ryan Lindgren tonight after giving Adam Fox and K’Andre Miller a look in last night’s defeat.
Will Cuylle (1 assist) and Brennan Othmann (1 goal) continue to impress as well. These two forwards have been a great story coming out of camp and will continue to put forth their best efforts. While it is uncertain to say if they will play tonight, Laviolette was pleased with them once again, “I thought that they were both pretty strong with their game. Those guys were good, I noticed them quite a bit. Othmann had good jump, good scoring chances. Cuylle I thought got better as the game went on”.
Other forwards who did not see the ice last night include Tyler Pitlick, Matt Rempe, Jake Leschyshyn, and Adam Sykora, all of whom are looking to impress the Rangers coaching staff.
Tonight should see Jonathan Quick and Dylan Garand in goal as Igor Shesterkin and Louis Domingue got yesterday. Quick will look to bounce back after his performance in Boston while Garand will try and build off of his strong showing against the Islanders earlier this week.
Check back in for updates as the game group hits the ice at 10:00 AM ET.
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