Game preview 11: Pittsburgh Penguins @ New York Islanders 02/06/2021: lines, how to watch

Who: Pittsburgh Penguins (5-4-1, 11 points, 4th place in the East Division) @ New York Islanders (3-4-2, 8 points, 8th place in the East Division)

When: 19:00 east

How to watch: AT&T Sportsnet in Pittsburgh, MSG + in NYC, also available on ESPN +

Opponent’s path: The Islanders were also caught up in the COVID madness, having the Tuesday / Thursday games canceled this week due to the Buffalo situation. Currently, NYI has no one on the COVID protocol list. The Islanders are in a five-game losing streak (0-3-2), with the last two losses occurring last weekend, both in overtime and in the hands of Philadelphia.

Pen path ahead: The next week is scheduled to be a light week for Pens, with only two games: Tuesday @NJD and Thursday again @NYI. We’ll see what New Jersey’s status is for Tuesday’s game.

Season Series: This will be the first game of eight PIT / NYI scheduled. As mentioned, the next one is 2/11 again in New York. February has a lot of these games, on 02/18 and 02/20 the teams will meet in Pittsburgh, then on @NYI on 02/27 and 02/28. The teams finish the season against each other on 3/29 and 3/30 in Pittsburgh.

Recent history: Pens are 3-0-3 in the last six games against the Islanders, and 5-2-2 away from home against NYI.

Hidden statistic: NYI is 2-0 at home and only 1-4-2 on the road so far this season. Similarly, Pens are 4-0 at home and only 1-4-1 away.

Counterpart of the SBN Team: Check out Lighthouse Hockey for news about the Islanders

Player statistics at a glance

via hockeydb:

– Scoring goals has been a big problem for NYI, with only 19 in nine games (2.11 per game, occupies 29th place in the NHL). Islanders’ net revenue has 42% of those goals (8).

Possible Lines

ADVANCE

Anders Lee – Mat Barzal – Josh Bailey

Dmytro Timashov – Brock Nelson – Jordan Eberle

Michael Del Colle – Jean-Gabriel Pageau – Austin Czarnik

Matt Martin – Casey Cizikas – Cal Clutterbuck

DEFENSE

Adam Pelech / Ryan Pulock

Nick Leddy / Scott Mayfield

Andy Greene / Noah Dobson

Possible starting goalkeeper: Semyon Varlamov

Scratches: Sebastien Aho, Ross Johnston

IR: Anthony Beauvillier, Johnny Boychuk (retired from LTIR)

Show me a good goalkeeper …

..And I will show you a good coach. The perception between coaching and goalkeeper is very interesting, with the coach of the year finalists almost always benefiting from a stellar goalkeeper (so everyone wonders why this coach is fired within 2-3 years when the goalkeeper’s performance decreases).

Since Barry Trotz came to New York, the Islands have been an excellent class in the defensive game, acquiring a solid system and excellent service to the goal. With Robin Lehner in 2018-19, NYI topped the NHL with 0.937 5v5% savings. Lehner left and performance dropped, but the NYI’s 0.923 5v5 save% was good enough for 10th place and to keep them in the playoff (although they were disappearing before the end of the season) in 2019-20.

Now, the much underestimated reserve Thomas Greiss has also split up, and it’s early, but has the 5v5 saved% of this season? Only 23rd with 0.910%. Consequently, NYI is now bottom in the division (although that can change very quickly). But it just shows that no goalkeeper magic lasts forever.

–

And now for the Pens ..

Player statistics at a glance

(via hockeydb)

Lines

Foward

Jake Guentzel – Sidney Crosby – Bryan Rust

Jason Zucker – Evgeni Malkin – Kasperi Kapanen

Jared McCann – Teddy Blueger – Brandon Tanev

Drew O’Connor– Mark Jankowski – Sam Lafferty

Defense

PO Joseph / Kris Letang

John Marino / Chad Ruhwedel

Mike Matheson / Cody Ceci

Possible starting goalkeeper: Casey DeSmith

Scratches: Colton Sceviour, Kevin Czucman

GO: Zach Aston-Reese, Juuso Riikola, Marcus Pettersson, Evan Rodrigues

Taxi Squad: Alex D’Orio, Maxime Lagace, Anthony Angello, Frederick Gaudreau, Will Reilly

– Pens may have dodged a bullet with John Marino being removed from the NHL’s COVID protocol list after being on it for just two days. Fortunately for Pens, the return of Letand and Matheson looks imminent and Marino should play tonight as well. The Pens were so focused on yesterday’s power play in training that they barely managed to throw on the line, so it remains to be seen how they will shake up the pairs.

King in the castle, king in the castle

Through Pens PR, it’s always fun to check out Sidney Crosby and the team he defeated the most in his NHL days:

Throughout his career, Sidney Crosby played dominant hockey against the New York Islanders. In 67 career games, Crosby scored 113 points (36G-67A) against the Islanders, helping Pittsburgh to a 41-17-9 record in those games. He has more than twice as many multipoint games against them (33) as opposed to games without points (16), while his total of 113 points is in fourth place in NHL history behind Jaromir Jagr (155), Mario Lemieux ( 131) and Mark Recchi (120).

Crosby’s 113 points against the Islanders are also the maximum that any active player has against a single team

3 keys to the game:

1. Continuing after the long pause .. Neither team has been playing for a week, due to similar but distinct concerns from COVID, so at least they are balancing themselves. Both teams needed a reset, the Islands to lose five in a row, the Pens to get some health and figure out how to have a functional power game. Which team made the most of the surprise week off and who is ready to do their best?
2. Suppressing shots. The Pens and Isles have been stingy defensively, giving up an almost identical amount of kicks per game (27.0 to 27.1). Which attack is able to control the game and get rubber in the net, since both teams have been leaking into the net (although the holder of NYI Varlamov is strong).
3. Powerplay fights … again. 1 in 21 in the last six games, but with two goals in a short hand. Along with the mountain of wounded, this is becoming the story of the season for the Pens. They took significant time to tackle and work on their power play in practice this week. Now it’s time to see if the coaches’ work and attention will really bear fruit on the ice. The team needs it badly, in many ways. Not least to give your stars some confidence and transport you to a better 5v5 game.