Tonight

It's a Hockey Night on the island! The New New York Rangers take on the Fishsticks at 7:00, and I Can Not Wait. Antropov! Morris! Avery! Not-Dmitiri-Kalinin! I'm excited. Are you excited? Get excited. Expect this game to be much harder than the standings would suggest, because the Islanders historically play like 6 good games a year: the ones against us. What do this Isles look like without Bill Guerin? Probably exactly like they looked with him: not very good. But it will still be fun. Tonight is not about the opposition, it's all about us. I've already professed what I think the forward lines will be. I imagine the defensive pairings will stay consistent, with Morris replacing Kalinin (Staal/Girardi, Redden/Roszival, Morris/Mara). Expect to see Morris on the PP where Redden used to be. Expect to see Antropov on the PP where...anyone used to be. Oh, and PLEASE win. The Pens play the Panthers tonight (for which I'll be pulling my secondary TV into my lounge so that we can watch both games), which means someone is coming out with 2 points (and, again, they could always go to OT for the extra one). To remind you what that means, the standings in question are:

5. Montréal - 75 pts, 18 GR
6. Florida - 74 pts, 18 GR
7. NEW YORK RANGERS - 72 pts, 18 GR
8. Pittsburgh - 72 pts, 17 GR
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9. Buffalo - 71 pts, 18 GR
10. Carolina - 71 pts, 17 GR

Let's Go Rangers!