Mark your calendars for July 29th New York Islanders fans.
As first reported yesterday by Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman and then later confirmed by the NHL, the Isles will square off with the New York Rangers for their exhibition contest in Toronto before the qualifying round begins. Both squads will begin their chase for the Stanley Cup three days later, the Islanders against the Florida Panthers and Blueshirts versus the Carolina Hurricanes.
For the Islanders, there’s no better opponent than their Manhattan neighbors to get themselves all jacked up and ready to play in the postseason.
Why?
You can never go wrong with your team’s most hated rival.
The Rangers are still the Isles’ biggest foe, despite what some may argue. And this year the rivalry between the two seemed to be re-energized with the Blueshirts becoming a competitive squad once again after a two-year rebuild. Other than the two blowouts at MSG in the regular season — a 6-2 Ranger win on January 13th and 4-2 Islander victory on January 21st — both games played at the Nassau Coliseum were absolutely barn burners, both having crazy finishes.
The Rangers brought out the best of the Isles and it should be no different two weeks from now.
But there’s more.
The intensity of the playoffs will be there and the Islanders will be able to feed off it.
Playoff hockey is a whole other animal if you weren’t aware, and the Isles are going to need to get into that mindset after such a long layoff. They were on a 0-3-4 skid before the coronavirus pandemic hit but seemed to be trending towards having their game up to standard again according to head coach Barry Trotz. The Rangers being the opposition will force the Isles to make sure they’re up to speed, have pace back in their game, and oh yeah, be hungry to win. It will also allow Trotz and his coaching staff the opportunity to tweak whatever needs to be fixed before the Isles take the ice against Florida.
What about for those Islanders who are returning?
The Rangers provide a formidable challenge for guys like Adam Pelech, Johnny Boychuk, Casey Cizikas and Cal Clutterbuck, as they are re-introduced to healthy competition.
The Rangers are a mere image of the Panthers.
Dangerous offensively. Dealing with Artemi Panarin and Co. will be a quick reminder of what the Isles will see from Aleksander Barkov, Jonathan Huberdeau, Mike Hoffman, etc.
A sporadic defense. The Rangers’ D and Cats’ D are alike in that they aren’t the greatest and can easily be exposed.
Very solid goaltending. Solving Sergei Bobrovsky will be an interesting task for an Islanders’ attack which doesn’t have a ton of firepower to it. Facing Igor Shesterkin, Henrik Lundqvist or Alexander Georgiev, the Isles have the opportunity to get in a little bit of rhythm.
It might say exhibition on the marquee, but the Islanders matching against the Rangers will be anything but that. The Isles — and the Rangers too — will be treating this contest as if it were the final game of a seven-game series. Barry Trotz’s club wouldn’t want it any other way, to tell you the truth.
That’s what makes the Blueshirts the ideal adversary to get the Islanders in playoff mode.
Now, can the game get here already?