New York Rangers @ New York Islanders Open Thread

The Rangers are 1-1 in preseason play thus far as they take on the Larrupin Lous for their third preseason game before the 18-19 campaign begins. Coming into tonight’s game the Rangers still have some adjustments to make and roster battles to settle but it seems things are starting to fall into place on the roster side of things, and speaking to that, here’s the team that will face off against the Islanders tonight.

Some things to watch for tonight:

The Battle of the Backups really kicks off tonight with both Alexander Georgiev and Dustin Tokarski look to share the crease and try to cement their role as the the primary bench door opener for the Rangers this year.

The bottom pair defense battle is really interesting through two preseason games and it looks like Tony DeAngelo has established himself as a front runner for one of those spots. Tonight can be a big test for guys like John Gilmour, Adam McQuaid, and Libor Hajek.

The 4C spot is now open for the taking with Boo Nieves getting hurt in the first preseason game against the Devils so this is an opportunity for someone like Brett Howden, who didn’t have the best game against the Flyers, to step up and prove he can handle that role.

On the other side of the red line, the Islanders will look like this

As for that “undisclosed line”

In his 4 career games against the New York Rangers, Mathew Barzal has 10 points. Just throwing that out there for no reason at all.

Enjoy the game folks!