New York Islanders (29-15-5, third in the East Division) vs. New York Rangers (26-18-6, fifth in the East Division)
New York; Thursday, 7 p.m. EDT
LINE: Rangers -118, Islanders -102
BOTTOM LINE: The New York Rangers head into a matchup against the New York Islanders as winners of three straight home games.
The Rangers are 26-18-6 against division opponents. The Rangers are fifth in the league averaging 5.7 assists per game, led by Artemi Panarin with 1.0.
The Islanders are 29-15-5 against the rest of their division. The Islanders average only 2.8 penalties per game, the fewest in the NHL. Ross Johnston leads the team averaging 0.9.
In their last meeting on April 20, the Islanders won 6-1. Josh Bailey recorded two goals for the Islanders.
TOP PERFORMERS: Pavel Buchnevich leads the Rangers with 20 goals and has 44 points. Mika Zibanejad has six goals and nine assists over the last 10 games for the Rangers.
Mathew Barzal leads the Islanders with a plus-14 in 49 games this season. Anthony Beauvillier has two goals and four assists over the last 10 games for the Islanders.
LAST 10 GAMES: Rangers: 7-2-1, averaging 3.6 goals, 6.6 assists, 3.5 penalties and 8.4 penalty minutes while giving up 2.3 goals per game with a .923 save percentage.
Islanders: 4-5-1, averaging 1.7 goals, 2.6 assists, 2.4 penalties and 5.3 penalty minutes while giving up two goals per game with a .935 save percentage.
INJURIES: Rangers: Jack Johnson: out (sports hernia), Jacob Trouba: day to day (upper body).
Islanders: Ross Johnston: out (undisclosed), Semyon Varlamov: day to day (undisclosed).
___
The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by
