Penguins

Penguins Game 35 vs. Islanders: Lines, Notes & How to Watch

Published

4 months ago

December 31, 2023

Pittsburgh Penguins game, New York Islanders

And so they meet again. The Pittsburgh Penguins host the New York Islanders on Sunday in a rematch from four days earlier. The dynamics surely will be influenced by what happened Wednesday.

That was when the Penguins (17-13-4) dismantled the Islanders (17-19-9) in a 7-0 win.

That was the teams’ first meeting of 2023-24 after New York swept the Penguins last season.

Game Time

The game starts a little after 6 p.m., an hour earlier than usual for New Year’s Eve.

Penguins Preview

The Penguins, seventh in the eight-team Metropolitan Division, sit five points behind the fourth-place Islanders with a game in hand.

Even with a 6-1-1 surge in their past eight games, the Penguins have work to do to climb into a wildcard spot in the Eastern Conference, so every point – particularly within the division – matters.

Since that pounding of the Islanders, the Penguins beat the visiting St. Louis Blues 4-2 on Saturday and so will be playing on the second night in a row.

Somewhat interestingly, the Penguins can be expected to go with backup goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic this time against the Islanders after Tristan Jarry played Saturday, even though Jarry got the shutout Wednesday.

Read more:

Kingerski: Penguins Blue Collar Win; Crosby & Malkin Shine in 4-2 Win Over Blues

Kingerski: ‘Not Our Best But…’ Jarry Steals, Pens Grind Blues

The Islanders also had a game in the interim since Wednesday’s game. They came away satisfied that they had turned the page after downing the Washington Capitals 5-1 on Friday.

“We had a good character response all night long,” Islanders coach Lane Lambert said of his team’s game Friday.

The Islanders, who are 3-2-2 since a four-game winning streak, were already in Pittsburgh Saturday while the Penguins played.

Expected Penguins Lines

Jake Guentzel-Sidney Crosby-Rickard Rakell

Reilly Smith-Evgeni Malkin-Drew O’Connor

Radim Zohorna-Lars Eller-Valtteri Puustinen

Jansen Harkins-Noel Acciara-Jeff Carter

Defense

Marcus Pettersson-Kris Letang

Ryan Graves-Erik Karlsson

John Ludvig-Chad Ruhwedel

Goalies

Alex Nedeljkovic

Tristan Jarry

Expected Islanders Lines

Anders Lee-Bo Horvat-Matthew Barzal

Pierre Engvall-Brock Nelson-Kyle Palmieri

Simon Holmstrom/Jean-Gabriel Pageau-Matt Martin

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: 13.9%, 26th

Penguins penalty kill: 82.6%, 10th

Islanders power play: 23.5%, 10th

Islanders penalty kill: 72.4%, 30^th

Penguins Game Notes

The Penguins have points in five straight home games (5-0-1).

Kris Letang had a whopping six assists in Wednesday’s win against the Islanders, including five in the second period, a record for an NHL defenseman. He leads all active defensemen against the Islanders in goals (13), assists (35) and points (48).

Sidney Crosby has 132 points (41 goals, 91 points) in 83 career games against the Islanders, although nearly amazingly he had no points or shots in Wednesday’s 7-0 win.

Rickard Rakell has a four-game point streak (2 goals, 3 assists) and is looking for his first five-game point streak since Feb. 27-March 8, 2021.

For the calendar year 2023, Sidney Crosby leads the Penguins with 86 points (34 goals, 52 assists) in 80 games, followed by Jake Guentzel (37 goals, 43 assists) and Evgeni Malkin (29 goals, 51 points) with 80 points each.