TLDR: Islanders-Rangers is back for the first time this season, Tuesday, October 6 at Madison Square Garden. The Islanders have something to show for their week, and the Rangers have a home game against Utah first.
The Islanders visit Madison Square Garden after splitting their first week: a season-opening loss to Toronto, then a 6-0 shutout of New Jersey in the UBS Arena home opener behind DeBoer's reshuffled forward lines. The Rangers host Utah first, so their form, goaltending and rest are still open questions. The Islanders will have had 2 days off, while the Rangers come in off a game 2 days earlier. No board is posted yet.
The Islanders' first week had 2 very different nights. They lost their season opener to Toronto on Wednesday, and Pete DeBoer spent Friday's practice reshuffling his forwards. Then they shut out the Devils 6-0 in the UBS Arena home opener. After a scoreless 1st they scored 3 in the 2nd and 3 more in the 3rd, and Jack and Luke Hughes didn't register a point. New Jersey came in as the road favorite and never solved it.
The new lines are worth watching at the Garden. DeBoer moved Emil Heineman up with Bo Horvat and Kyle Palmieri after Heineman earned the bump during the Toronto game. He put Simon Holmström back with his penalty-kill partner JG Pageau, with Anthony Duclair on that line too. He also paired 2 young forwards, Victor Eklund and Cal Ritchie, with Brayden Schenn, who has played 1,000 games. The defense pairs stayed the same, with Adam Pelech still next to Matthew Schaefer. Before Saturday, DeBoer's complaint was that the Isles hadn't scored much at 5-on-5, even in exhibition play. The next 6-goal night was the first answer.
The Rangers are harder to read right now, because they still have a game to play. Utah comes to Madison Square Garden on Sunday as part of the Mammoth's season-opening road trip. Whatever the Rangers show in that one, from goaltending to line combinations to how much the top guys play, is what the Islanders will see 2 days later. Until then, any read on the Rangers is a guess about a team that's about to play again.
The schedule favors the Islanders. They'll have been off since Saturday's shutout, while the Rangers come back to the same building after facing Utah, with 1 day between games. That isn't a back-to-back, but one of these teams will be playing its 2nd game in 3 days and the other gets a fresh week. Ilya Sorokin started the opener against New Jersey. Who starts in goal on Tuesday, for either team, hasn't been announced.
It's still the first week of October, so nobody's season is being decided here. But this is the first round of the rivalry this year, at the Garden, against an Islanders team that just held a division rival without a goal for 60 minutes. Whether the Isles' new lines are a real fix or 1 good night at home will be clearer after a road game at MSG. Puck drop is 7:30 PM ET.
New York Islanders at New York Rangers — Islanders Bring a Shutout Into the Garden for the Rivalry's First Round | Polymarket Odds · Barstool Bush
