Penguins

Penguins Game 33 vs. Islanders: Lines, Notes & How to Watch

Published

1 year ago

December 27, 2023

Pittsburgh Penguins game vs. New York Islanders

The Pittsburgh Penguins jump right back into things after the NHL’s Christmas break with a Metropolitan Division game on the road Wednesday against the New York Islanders. It’s the first meeting of the season between the clubs. Keep an eye out for anything that might bring some carryover, as the teams meet again on New Year’s Eve in Pittsburgh.

The Penguins (15-13-4) are coming off a 5-4 overtime loss Saturday at Ottawa, while the Islanders (16-8-9) are coming off a 5-4 win Saturday at Carolina.

Game Time

The game starts a little after 7:30 p.m.

Penguins Preview

Coming out of the holiday break, the Penguins need to get things together and gain ground quickly. They lead only the Columbus Blue Jackets in the Metro and sit seven points behind the second-place Islanders in the division, with a game in hand.

Three of their next four games are against Metro teams.

The Penguins are 4-1-1 in their past six games.

One matchup to watch is the Penguins’ power play – which cooled off to 1 for 12 over the past two games after going 6 for 16 over four games — against the Islanders’ last-place penalty kill.

They also need to sort out their goaltending situation. Alex Nedeljkovic has started three games in a row (2-0-1) and four of the past five, and relieved Tristan Jarry in the one in that stretch he didn’t start, a 7-0 pasting at Toronto.

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The Islanders are 4-0 in their past five games against Pittsburgh, although the Penguins got a point the last time they met, March 9, when New York won in overtime 4-3.

The 4-0 mark meant the Islanders swept the season series in 2022-23 for the first time in franchise history.

Team captain Anders Lee has a three-game goal streak and had a goal and two assists in the Islanders win Saturday against Carolina. That gave him 250 career goals, and gave New York a three-game point streak (2-0-1).

The Islanders are 8-1-3 in their past dozen games.

Penguins Expected Lines

Jake Guentzel-Sidney Crosby-Rickard Rakell

Reilly Smith-Evgeni Malkin-Drew O’Connor

Radom Zohorna-Lars Eller-Valtteri Puustinen

Jansen Harkins-Noel Acciari-Jeff Carter

Defense

Ryan Graves-Erik Karlsson

Marcus Pettersson-Kris Letang

John Ludvig-Chad Ruhwedel

Goalies

Tristan Jarry

Alex Nedeljkovic

Expected Islanders Lines

Anders Lee-Bo Horvat-Matthew Barzal

Pierre Engvail-Brock Nelson-Kyle Palmieri

Simon Holstrom/Jean-Gabriel Pageau/Oliver Wahlstrom

Hudson Fasching-Casey Cizikas-Cal Clutterbuck

Defense

Alexander Romanov-Noah Dobson

Samuel Bolduc-Robert Bortuzzo

Mike Reilly-Sebastian Aho

Goalies

Ilya Sorokin

Semyon Varlamov

Penguins Special Teams

Penguins power play: 13.7%, 27th

Penguins penalty kill: 82.7%, 10th

Islanders power play: 24.7%, 6th

Islanders penalty kill: 71.0%, 32^nd

Game Notes

Kris Letang leads all active defensemen in goals (13), assists (29) and points (42) in his career against the Islanders.

Reilly Smith has 17 points (7 goals, 10 assists) in 22 career games against the Islanders, including seven points (3 goals, 4 assists) in his past eight games against them.

Jake Guentzel has 26 points (8 goals, 18 assists) in 27 career games against the Islanders.

Jeff Carter ranks fifth among active players with 50 points (23 goals, 27 assists) in 58 career games against the Islanders.

Sidney Crosby, with 1,537 career points, is two shy of tying Joe Thornton for 12^th place all-time in the NHL.

Crosby is also one even-strength goal shy of becoming the 19^th player in league history to reach 400.

Erik Karlsson is two assists shy of 600 for his career.