The Islanders are looking to become bad hosts.

Thus far this season, they have laid out the welcome mat and a plate of mints for opponents. But starting tonight against the Rangers, look for the Isles to have the Coliseum on Rikers Island lockdown.

On their recent 10-day, five-game road trip, the Islanders went 3-2 with tough wins in Boston, Calgary and Los Angeles, rekindling some of the attitude they began the season with as one of the best road teams in the history of the league.

And while the second-place Islanders (24-16-5-2) are 14-9-1-1 on the road, they’re just 10-7-4-1 at home – something coach Peter Laviolette hopes to remedy beginning against the Blueshirts, who are winless in their last nine (0-7-1-1).

“[Tonight] is a huge game for us,” Laviolette said. “One, because it’s a home game and we have to win on our home ice. Our home record has to be much better than it is. We have to play with more pride.”

It’s been some time since the Islanders “ripped the door off its hinges” or “ripped their hearts out of their chests for the fans to see,” two of Laviolette’s ideas of where he thinks the team’s energy needs to be on its home ice.

The last glimpse the Coliseum faithful got of this team was a nasty 5-2 loss to Calgary Jan. 8.

So what better game for the Isles to go wild than one against the Rangers, who stormed the Isles’ kitchen Nov. 8 and shook the cupboards bare with a 6-2 win?

“It’s a big game because we’re fighting to climb back up the conference,” Laviolette said. “We’re trying to get to the top, trying to get home ice. It’s a game against the New York Rangers. There’s a lot of reasons [it’s big].”

So the Isles are keeping it simple, their mission to make the playoffs crystal-clear.

They play six of their next nine at the Coliseum before the league shuts down for two weeks for the Olympics.

“The travel’s not bad,” Laviolette said. “As a group, we have to do as much damage as possible.”

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D Roman Hamrlik (knee) began skating with the team this week and may return for Thursday’s game against the Penguins at the Coliseum.