What a game round 1 of this home-and-home series between these rivals turned out to be.
I was in attendance and it just so happened I ended up being in a section that was roughly 90% Islander fans. Note to season ticket holders in section 324: you're not allowed to call yourselves Rangers fans anymore.
Regardless, this game was intense and didn't disappoint. Even though the Islanders lost, and really in my opinion got outplayed pretty badly, just look at the total shot count if you don't believe me, the Islander fans left feeling pretty good too. Hell, on the way home, at the Mineola Train Station I heard some "Lets go Islanders" chants. They were quickly overpowered by "Who wants fishsticks?" chants though...hehe.
Tonight's game promises to be a good one. The Rangers played their hearts out Monday and they're paying for it physically. Marcel Hossa sprained his knee and will join Brendan Shanahan, Fedor Tyutin, and Kevin Weekes on Injured Reserve. Also feeling sore are forward Sean Avery, recently acquired defenseman Paul Mara, and forward Martin Straka, who played his first game since hurting his shoulder against the Islanders on Monday.
For the Islanders, Alexei Yashin is expected to make his return to the lineup. This is the best team the Islanders have had on paper in a long time. Yashin, Jason Blake, Ryan Smyth, Victor Kozlov, Mike Sillinger, Miroslav Satan, Sean Bates, and Randy Robitaille make for a great offensive attack. And then Tom Poti (yes Rangers fans, Tom Poti), Brandon Witt, Marc-Andre Bergeron, Sean Hill, and Chris Campoli giving the Islanders quite the defensive lineup as well. Rick DiPietro of course finishes out the lineup, and despite his ludicrous contract, you can't knock the guy and how he's played this season, his last game being nothing short of very impressive.
Going into tonight the Rangers are two points out of the 8th and final playoff spot. Despite the injury to Hossa, you get the feeling the Rangers are just gonna be very energetic and lively. I'm sure the Islanders will be too without a doubt. Ted Nolan did not sound very pleased with his team after Monday's loss, he was very upset about the amount of shots the Islanders allowed as well as the amount of penalties they took.
I can't stress enough how important I think it is for someone else to step up now that Hossa is out for what looks to be most of the regular season. He's been the hot hand as of late, and someones gonna have to start scoring more. I personally hope the Rangers keep Jarko Immonen up with the big club and put him with the likes of Prucha and Ortmeyer or Avery. He's a great setup man and he does a fine job of finishing too. With Hartford this season he's got 10 goals and 17 assists in 36 games. Last season was when he was most impressive, scoring 30 goals and 40 assists in 74 games, along with a very impressive +16. If the Rangers get desperate, it wouldn't surprise me to see Ryan Callahan playing with us down the stretch either. He's had a great season, he's got 33 goals with Hartford already and also scored the game winner in the AHL All-Star game.
It should be a great game tonight, be sure to tune in. It'll be on FSNY2 and MSG.
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