Penguins @ Islanders
Barclays Center | Brooklyn, NY
7:00PM Eastern | MSG+ | AT&TSN-PT
The Penguins head down the coast to take on a strong Islanders team as they look to right the ship through a 2-game losing streak.
The Penguins have collected 1 of a possible 4 points over the past 2 tilts, having gutted out an OT loss to the Oilers at home on Saturday before succumbing to the Bruins, 6-4 on Monday night at TD Garden.
The loss to the Bruins looked uglier than it was, at least from some angles. Boston is one of the top teams in the league, and despite racing out to a 3-0 lead and chasing Matt Murray, the Penguins battled back to take a 4-3 lead before the wheels came off a bit in the third period.
Tonight’s matchup with the Islanders will be a rematch of a forgettable first-round exit for the Penguins, who were swept by Trotz’ group last year.
The Penguins’ positives were there, though, as mentioned, as they threw 44 shots on goal against Jaro Halak in the loss. They’ll look to capitalize on more opportunities and tighten things up on the back end this evening in Brooklyn.
Kris Letang left Monday’s game in the third period with a lower-body injury. He is still being evaluated but signs point to him being unavailable in the short-term and hopefully not much more.
Malkin had a maintenance day yesterday and Dumoulin went home to be with his wife and newborn, so some creativity goes into a best guess at tonight’s lines and configuration. The Wrecking Ball filled in for Malkin at practice.
Guentzel – Crosby – Simon
Galchenyuk – Malkin – Rust
McCann – Bjugstad – Kahun
ZAR – Blueger – Tanev
Pettersson – Schultz
Dumoulin – Marino
Riikola – Johnson
Murray
The Islanders boast an 11-3-0 record so far this season, and unsurprisingly, it’s been done largely on the defensive end. They’re allowing just 2.14 goals per game, tops in the league. Their 3.07 goals per game are just 15th.
Josh Bailey leads the Isles in scoring with 12P (6G, 6A). They’ve gotten good play from Matt Barzal down the middle (6G, 5A) and Devon Toews from the back end (2G, 7A).
Former Penguin Derick Brassard will be in the building, no word on if he’s going to be a big fucking baby about ice time or opportunities yet.
Lee – Barzal – Bailey
Beauvillier – Nelson – Brassard
Dal Colle – Cizikas – Clutterbuck
Johnston – Bardeau – Wahlstrom
Pelech – Pulock
Toews – Mayfield
Dobson – Boychuk
Varlamov
Sink the Islanders.
Truckvember rolls on.
Go Pens.
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