The Islanders and the Rangers will hit their respective restart buttons — against each other — following the Christmas break Saturday night at UBS Arena.
The local teams are separated by two points in the standings in the Metropolitan Division and the Eastern Conference, although the Islanders have played two fewer games.
In the most simple terms, the disparity in points can be traced back to the first meeting this season, a 5-0 thrashing by the Islanders at Madison Square Garden on Nov. 8.
Here are three important factors for each team entering the second of four head-to-head games between the longtime rivals this season, with the other two coming as a home-and-home set on Jan. 28-29:
Rangers
Missing pieces
Since the teams last met, the Rangers have lost All-Star defenseman Adam Fox, and more recently, captain J.T. Miller to injuries that have or will sideline them for multiple weeks.
Fox has been out since late November with a left shoulder issue, necessitating the deployment mostly of a five-forward first unit on the power play.
The former Norris Trophy winner resumed skating in a non-contact jersey before the break, and he’s eligible to be activated from long-term injured reserve at any time, although early January is considered the realistic target for Fox’s return to the lineup.
Road warriors
The Blueshirts still are experiencing many of the same issues they were during those opening weeks of the regular season, namely sporting the worst home record in the East with only five wins in their first 18 games (5-10-3) at MSG.
Conversely, their 14 road wins (14-6-1) represent the most across the league so far, including a five-goal eruption in the third period for a 7-3 win in Washington ahead of the break.
The Rangers have posted a 4-2-0 mark since the Islanders began playing at UBS in 2021.
Net gain
Igor Shesterkin hasn’t particularly dominated lately, but he has posted a 6-2-1 record in December and a 9-3-1 mark since Nov. 24. He has won fewer than half of his 19 career games (9-9-1) against the Islanders with a 2.76 ERA after allowing four goals on 25 shots against them in November. Saturday’s game figures to be the 300th start of the former Vezina Trophy winner’s NHL career.
Islanders
Missing pieces
Similarly, Patrick Roy’s team also limped into the break without multiple key players, led by the absence of starting goalie Ilya Sorokin and leading goal scorer Bo Horvat in recent games. Sorokin registered a 24-save shutout and Horvat netted two goals at MSG in the November clash.
Sorokin is expected to be available Saturday night, and Horvat also has resumed non-contact practice.
Lineup staple Kyle Palmieri also is out for the season with a torn ACL.
Raising the Bar’
Forward Mathew Barzal has enjoyed a resurgence with three goals and 11 points over 11 December appearances, and he was a plus-2 despite being held off the score sheet in Tuesday’s 2-1 win over the Devils to snap a seven-game point streak.
On the Matt
No. 1 overall draft pick Matthew Schaefer played a strong two-way game despite earning no points in his first taste of this rivalry, earning a plus-1 rating over 24:16 of ice time in his first NHL game at the Garden.
But the 18-year-old Calder Trophy favorite for Rookie of the Year has managed just one goal in his past 12 games after potting five in November.
The Islanders’ power-play efficiency ranks 26th in the league, eight spots behind that of the Rangers.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
