Game Preview: New York Islanders @ Pittsburgh Penguins 12/29/2024
The Pens and Islanders run it back for another game
Who: New York Islanders (14-15-7, 35 points, 7th place Metropolitan Division) @ Pittsburgh Penguins (16-16-5, 37 points, 4th place Metropolitan Division)
When: 5:30 p.m. ET
How to Watch: Broadcast on SportsNet Pittsburgh and MSG Sportsnet for the local markets, streaming on ESPN+
Pens’ Path Ahead: The Pens head to Detroit on New Years Eve (lucky them..) and then get a few days off before the next part of their road swing that sends them to Florida on Friday Jan. 3 and then Carolina a week from today (which will be Jan. 5)
Opponent Track: After wrapping up the home-and-home with the Pens tonight, the Islanders get another home-and-home next week with Toronto. That begins up in Canada on Tuesday before returning back to the Island next Thursday.
Season Series: The Pens lost 4-3 to the Islanders on Nov. 5 in the first matchup. The second game was last night, a 6-3 decision to NYI. The final matchup after tonight will be March 18th in Pittsburgh.
Getting to know the Islanders
Projected lines
FORWARDS
Anders Lee - Mathew Barzal - Jean-Gabriel Pageau
Anthony Duclair - Brock Nelson - Kyle Palmieri
Maxim Tsyplakov - Bo Horvat - Simon Holmstrom
Kyle MacLean - Casey Cizikas - Hudson Fasching
DEFENSEMEN
Alexander Romanov / Noah Dobson
Adam Pelech / Ryan Pulock
Isaiah George / Scott Mayfield
Goalies: Ilya Sorokin, Marcus Hoberg
Potential Scratches: Matt Martin, Pierre Engvall, Dennis Cholowski
IR: Mike Reilly, Semyon Varlamov
—It’ll be interesting to see coming off the break if the Isles lay a heavy workload on Sorokin. Sorokin only saw 25 shots last night, and his backup is the organization’s third string. Usually goalies don’t play back-to-back, but if ever their was a situation and circumstance to break that tradition, this might just be it.
Player stats
(via hockeydb)
—No heavy scorers, no great goaltending, it’s no wonder that the temperature is rising on the status of the coach (and even GM) with a last place team under-performing playoff expectations in the first half of the season so far.
—That said, there’s time to turn it around but the clock is ticking. A win today would make three victories in the last four for NYI and then they could start feeling pretty confident that they’re in the process of turning a corner and entering an upswing for their season. They need one to start just about ASAP if they want to get anywhere.
And now for the Pens
Projected lines
FORWARDS
Rickard Rakell - Sidney Crosby - Bryan Rust
Michael Bunting - Evgeni Malkin - Drew O’Connor
Anthony Beauvillier - Cody Glass - Philip Tomasino
Matt Nieto - Blake Lizotte - Noel Acciari
DEFENSEMEN
P.O. Joseph / Kris Letang
Matt Grzelcyk / Erik Karlsson
Ryan Graves / Ryan Shea
Goalies: Alex Nedeljkovic (Tristan Jarry played yesterday)
Potential Scratches: Jesse Puljujarvi, Kevin Hayes, Nathan Clurman
IR: Marcus Pettersson, Owen Pickering
—As is recently the case, it seems like the goaltending situation as at another crossroads for the Pens. Nedeljkovic has only started two of the team’s 11 games played in December so far. He’s been relegated to the bench for Jarry to take the ball and try and run with it, but the b-2-b should mean the recently rare opportunity for Nedeljkovic to get back in there.