The New York Islanders (18-13-2, 38 points, 5th Metro) visit Madison Square Garden on Thursday for an Metropolitan division NHL Showdown with the New York Rangers (18-11-5, 41 points, 4th Metro). The Islanders were shut out by the Colorado Avalanche 1-0 on Monday night in a shootout, failing to put any of 26 shots through overtime, past Alexandar Georgiev. The Rangers were defeated by the Pittsburgh Penguins 3-2 on Tuesday night, which snapped a seven-game winning streak for New York. Cal Clutterbuck and Adam Pelech are out for the Islanders, while Kyle Palmieri and Semyon Varlamov are questionable. The Rangers do not have any players on their injury report.
The New York Islanders are allowing an average of 2.73 goals per game which is 9th best in the NHL. New York is allowing an average of 32.3 shots per game which is 20th and the Islanders have the 8th best penalty-kill unit, successfully holding opponents scoreless 81.0% of the time the Islanders are short-handed. Ilya Sorokin is 10-10-1 with a 2.36 goals-against average in .926 save percentage with three shutouts. Backup Semyon Varlamov is 8-3-1 with a 2.65 goals-against average and .919 save percentage but is listed as questionable.
The Islanders are scoring an average of 3.15 goals per game which is 16th in the NHL, while averaging 31.1 shots per game which is 18th. The Islanders have the 21st best power play, scoring only 20.4% of the time with the man advantage. Brock Nelson is the leading goal scorer for New York wi th 15, while three others have scored 10 goals apiece. Mathew Barzal is the leader in assists with 27 and Nelson is second with 18. Nelson is the points leader with 33 and Barzal is second with 31. The Islanders have scored 20 goals on the power play in 33 games.