NHL

Rangers’ old rivals not to be trifled with

NEIGHBOR SQUABBLE: Rick Nash and the Rangers look to hold off Thomas Hickey and the up-and-coming Islanders in a Battle of New York tonight with serious playoff implications. (Christopher Pasatieri)

It’s not just another game against just another opponent, regardless of John Tortorella’s desire to frame it that way.

While the Rangers coach yesterday merely repeated a variation of the “It’s About the Rangers” mantra, tonight’s Blueshirts-Islanders confrontation at the Coliseum represents a delicious treat for the fans of both franchises and a boost to the 40-year Battle of New York that has tilted dramatically toward Manhattan the past seven seasons.

Playoff spots are on the line for both clubs with two weeks remaining in the season. The Islanders, who have gone 8-1-1 in their last 10 games, hold a two-point lead over the Rangers, who are 4-1-1 in their last six. The Blueshirts, tied in points with ninth-place Winnipeg, have eight games remaining while the Islanders have seven to play and the Jets have six.

“It’s great for the rivalry,” said Arron Asham, on the other side now after having played four seasons with the Islanders from 2002-07. “It’s huge for them, their young stars are really playing well, and it’s pretty important for us.

“It should be a lot of fun.”

NHL STANDINGS

Accompanying the Rangers’ dominance in the standings — the Blueshirts have finished ahead of the Islanders seven straight times and in 18 of the past 23 seasons — has been the Broadway soundtrack in the Coliseum stands for these games.

“As the home team that can be a little discouraging,” Asham said. “Ever since I was on the team, there have been more Rangers fans.”

That dynamic could change tonight, with the home team’s assertive play over the past two weeks energizing a chronically battered fan base and organization that for good reason has operated with an inferiority complex.

It has been difficult enough for the Rangers to succeed at the Coliseum against inferior opposition (3-3-1 the last seven, 5-4-1 the last 10) — and this is not inferior opposition.

“Every time we play there, they have stepped up and I don’t think that will change,” said Henrik Lundqvist, scheduled to make his seventh straight start, 16th of the past 17 and 22nd of the past 24. “It doesn’t matter what position they have been in, they have always played their best.

“I think it’s going to come down to mindset and who wants it more.”

The best is no doubt yet to come from the Islanders, who have evolved into far more than the John Tavares Traveling Road Show, even as No. 91 positions himself as a legitimate Hart Trophy candidate.

The Tavares-Matt Moulson-Brad Boyes unit has received ample support from the Josh Bailey-Frans Nielsen-Kyle Okposo line, leaving Tortorella with a pick-your-poison of a choice against whom to match his Ryan McDonagh-Dan Girardi shutdown defense pair.

The Islanders defense plays with bite and is able to move the puck. Evgeni Nabokov has been a rock in goal. The Islanders are a hard team that plays with quickness and speed, attributes that are problematic for the Rangers to defend.

“The biggest thing against a team like that is to manage the puck,” Derek Stepan said. “If you can hang on to the puck in the offensive zone, it can limit their speed.

“You want to stay in their face all over the rink and use your forecheck to negate that speed. You want to move it quickly in your own end and then get through the neutral zone so that they have to defend,” the first-line center said. “You want to be tight, control the gaps and eliminate space.

“That’s the way we always want to play, but against a team like this, it becomes essential.”

Against, that is, a team like the Islanders, whom the Rangers are chasing in the standings but can’t afford to chase on the ice in what most certainly won’t be just another game against just another opponent.

“It’s going to be fun,” Asham told locker-room neighbor Ryane Clowe, for eight years a Shark without a natural rival before coming to the Rangers at the March 3 deadline. “You’ll see.”