Rangers and Islanders in action tonight

November 23, 2009   ·   Derek Felix   ·   Jump to comments

Monday doesn’t have many games. But tonight, both the Rangers and Islanders are in action with one at home and the other finishing a long seven-game road trip.

The struggling Blueshirts- losers of five of six- try to get back on track against the Blue Jackets at MSG. A game we’ll be in our Sec.411 seats for. Meanwhile, the Isles look to end a two-game losing streak on what’s been a respectable road swing (2-2-2) when they visit the ACC and the Maple Leafs, who are fresh off a great shootout win over the Caps.

Oddly enough, both archrivals are neck and neck in a crowded East with the Rangers and Isles both with 23 points but the Garden club in ninth by virtue of more wins. However, it’s this slumping team that relies way too much on The Big Ticket and Prospal that is in deep trouble. There are many issues including no secondary scoring, zero toughness and an alarming trend that we saw fell the team when Tom Renney coached. Can Tort fix it or is this season about to go up in smoke? We’ll have a better answer over the next couple of weeks.

As for the Islanders, they’ve played hard all year for Scott Gordon taking many games past regulation. The last two disappointments including a gut wrenching loss to the Wild late and a 4-1 defeat in St. Lou must be reversed. They can’t take the Leafs lightly, who seem to be getting better goaltending from Vesa Toskala. So much for The Monster Experiment. It’s officially on hold. Can the Isles bounce back? Find out later.