It’s a battle of New York at Madison Square Garden tonight. For the third time this season, the Rangers and Islanders will be squaring off for geographic supremacy. Gerard Gallant’s squad won the first meeting back in November against a COVID-19 ravaged skeleton crew, but Barry Trotz’s Islanders earned a victory in the second game of the season series two weeks ago with a late goal to snatch a 2-1 road victory from the Blueshirts.

The Rangers have gone 6-1-0 in the seven games they’ve played since their defeat to the Islanders, while the Islanders have posted a respectable 5-3-0 record since then as they play out the string en route to missing the playoffs. While tonight’s game means a lot more to the Rangers, the Islanders will relish the opportunity to play spoiler.

Player to Watch: Andrew Copp

Since arriving from Winnipeg at the trade deadline, Copp has posted at least one point in all five games he’s played as a Ranger. After scoring the game winning goal against Detroit on Wednesday, Copp’s stat line stands at 2-5-7 since joining the Blueshirts. For reference, Eric Staal posted a 3-3-6 stat line in 20 regular season games when he joined the team at the 2016 deadline, so Copp has been a smashing success thus far. Look for that success to continue tonight.

Enjoy the game!