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Hockey is back!
Who: Pittsburgh Penguins (15-13-4, 34 points, 7th place Metropolitan Division) @ New York Islanders (16-8-9, 41 points, 2nd place Metropolitan Division)
When: 7:30 p.m. ET
How to Watch: MSGSN, SN-PIT
Pens’ Path Ahead: The Penguins finish the year with a back-to-back home set, facing the St. Louis Blues Saturday before returning for a rematch against the Islanders Sunday.
Opponent Track: The Islanders have earned points in nine of their last 10 games (6-1-3.) Most recently they funded off a late surge by the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday to win 5-4 in regulation.
Season Series: This is the first time the Pens have run into the Isles this season. After the New Year’s Eve rematch, these two teams will meet twice more in February and in the April regular-season finale.
Hidden Stat: Only one player has more career points than Sidney Crosby (132) against the Islanders. That would be Jaromir Jagr (155.)
Projected lines (from Saturday’s game)
FORWARDS
Anders Lee – Bo Horvat – Mathew Barzal
Pierre Engvall – Brock Nelson – Kyle Palmieri
Simon Holmström – Jean-Gabriel Pageau – Julien Guathier
Hudson Fasching – Casey Cizikas – Cal Clutterbuck
DEFENSEMEN
Alexander Romanov – Noah Dobson
Mike Reilly – Sebastian Aho
Samuel Bolduc – Robert Bortuzzo
Goalies: Ilya Sorokin – Semyon Varlamov
Possible scratches: Oliver Wahlstrom, Matt Martin
IR: Ryan Pulock, Scott Mayfield, Adam Pelech
(via hockeydb)
Projected lines (from Saturday’s game)
FORWARDS
Jake Guentzel – Sidney Crosby – Rickard Rakell
Reilly Smith – Evgeni Malkin – Valtteri Puustinen
Radim Zohorna – Lars Eller – Drew O’Connor
Jansen Harkins – Noel Acciari – Jeff Carter
DEFENSEMEN
Marcus Pettersson / Kris Letang
Ryan Graves / Erik Karlsson
John Ludvig / Chad Ruhwedel
Goalies: Tristan Jarry, Alex Nedeljkovic
Potential scratches: P.O. Joseph, Vinnie Hinostroza
IR: Matt Nieto (lower body injury), Bryan Rust (week-to-week injury)
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