Game Preview: Islanders vs. Penguins

NEW YORK ISLANDERS (22-8-4) VS. PITTSBURGH PENGUINS (21-11-2)
7 PM | PPG PAINTS ARENA
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After facing each other six times in February, the New York Islanders and Pittsburgh Penguins will wrap-up their eight-game season series at PPG Paints Arena with the final two meetings scheduled on Saturday and Monday night. The Islanders have gone 2-2-2 against the Penguins this season.

It's been 27 days since the last meetings between the two East Division rivals, and both teams have continued to climb the standings since then. The Islanders are in first place in the dogfight of a division with 48 points after rallying from behind to claim a 4-3 overtime victory over Boston on Thursday night.
The Islanders mounted a comeback after being down 2-0 in the first period with regulation goals from Jean-Gabriel Pageau, Josh Bailey and Oliver Wahlstrom. Twenty-one seconds into overtime, Anthony Beauvillier scored his second OT winner in as many games. Semyon Varlamov manned the pipes as he made 29 stops on 32 shots.
Pittsburgh closed out a back-to-back home set against Buffalo with a 4-0 win on Thursday night. The win featured depth scoring from the Penguins, who have had their injured list pile up. Radim Zohorna scored his first-career goal in his NHL debut as he joined the lineup in place of Kasperi Kapanen. Jared McCann scored two power-play strikes, while Jake Guentzel capped the win. Casey DeSmith picked up the shutout with 36 saves.

ISLANDERS NOTES:

*Update: Islanders forward Michael Dal Colle will be sidelined for the next two games with a lower-body injury as confirmed by Head Coach Barry Trotz.
"Michael Dal Colle will not play in these two games," Trotz said. "Just a lower-body injury. We're going to stay with the group that we have."
• With the win over Boston, The Islanders now have points in 23 of their last 27 games (19-4-4) and are 14-2-1 in their last 17 games.
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• With two third-period goals on Thursday night, the Islanders have now outscored their opponents 41-22 in the final 20 minutes of regulation. Their +19 goal differential in the third period remains the best in the NHL.
• Beauvillier notched his third goal in as many games and his second OT winner in back-to-back games. The 23-year-old winger's strike 21 seconds into the extra period marked the second-earliest (regular season) overtime goal in franchise history. Only Pat LaFontaine scored in a shorter time with his OT goal just 10 seconds into the extra session on November 5, 1988. After going without a goal for nine games, Beauvillier has a three-game goal streak - with four points (3G, 1A) - in that span and has 10 points on the season (5G, 5A).
• Pageau ignited the scoring and moved into second place on the Islanders goals leaderboard with 11, putting him one goal behind co-leaders Brock Nelson and Anders Lee for first (12 goals). The center now has five points (1G, 4A) in his last two games.
• With two assists, Nick Leddy recorded his 44th career multi-point outing and his second such effort in the last four games. Leddy now has sole possession of fourth-most multi-point games by a blueliner in Islander history with 44, passing Jeff Norton. The recently turned 30-year-old is now also tied with Pageau (11G, 12A) for second among the Islanders with 23 points (1G, 22A).
• Bailey buried his fifth goal of the season and second in the last three games. Bailey is poised to skate in his 900th career game on Saturday and will become the fourth player in franchise history to reach the milestone having played the entirety of his career with the Islanders. Bailey will join some impresive company with the accomplishment, as he will tie Bobby Nystrom for the third-most games played in an Islanders sweater, behind Bryan Trottier (1,123) and Denis Potvin (1,060).
• Wahlstrom continued his busy rookie campaign as he scored his ninth goal of the season. The 20-year-old winger is riding a five-game point streak with six points (4G, 2A) in that stretch. Since February 22nd, Wahlstrom leads the team in goals with eight and is tied with Leddy (14 assists) for the team lead in points with 14 (8G, 6A). Wahlstrom is now third in the league in goals by rookies this season with nine goals and is trailing only Minnesota's Kirill Kaprizov (11) and Chicago's Pius Suter (10).
• Varlamov made his 23rd start of the season and with the win improved to 14-6-3 with a 2.20 GAA and a .923 SV% this season.
• The Islanders 2.21 goals against per game continues to be the lowest in the NHL.

PENGUINS NOTES:

• Zohorna scored on his first shot of his first NHL game. He joined the Penguins as a free agent after signing a one-year deal with the club last April. The 24-year-old Czech native spent the last six seasons playing in the Czech Republic's top professional league, the Czech Extraliga.
• McCann scored his sixth and seventh goals of the season as he converted twice on the power play. The center now has three points (2G, 1A) in his last two games.
• Guentzel lit the lamp for the 14th time this season to overtake the sole lead in goals by the Pens. The goal was Guentzel's third in his last five games and extended his point streak to five games (3G, 3A).
• With a three-point outing, providing assists on both of McCann's goals and Guentzel's goal, Sidney Crosby recorded his 1,300th career point. The Penguins captain became the 36th player in the history of the NHL to accomplish the feat. With three assists Crosby extended his point streak to four games where he's totaled eight points (2G, 6A) in that span. The 33-year-old leads his team in scoring with 37 points (13G, 24A) in 33 games.
• Kris Letang dished out two assists in the win and now has three points on two helpers and a goal in his last two games. Letang leads the Penguins blueline in scoring with 25 points (6G, 19A) in 33 games.
• DeSmith made his 11th start of the season and improved to 8-3-0. DeSmith has a 1.93 GAA and a .928 SV%.
• With Kapanen missing Thursday's game after sustaining a lower-body injury the night before - and being listed week-to-week - the Penguins have a sizeable amount of forwards currently out of the lineup dealing with ailments. In addition to Kapapen, Evgeni Malkin (lower-body), Brandon Tanev (upper-body), Jason Zucker (lower-body) and Teddy Blueger (upper-body).
• Despite the surplus of injuries, the Penguins have gone 7-2-1 in their last 10 games.