New York Islanders at Pittsburgh Penguins [Game 28]

			-AT-
			7:00 PM EST
Radio	Network		Arena		Network	Radio
88.7 FM WRHU	MSG+		PPG Paints Arena		ATTP	105.9 FM WXDX
League	Value		Metric		Value	League
9th	63.0%		Points Percentage		56.9%	16th
27th	13.04%		Net Power Play Percentage		25.69%	2nd
29th	70.45%		Net Penalty Kill Percentage		75.22%	24th
29th	83.50%		Combined Special Teams Percentage		100.91%	6th
1st	3.74		Goals for per Game (All Situations)		2.97	15th
26th	3.41		Goals against per Game (All Situations)		3.28	24th
12th	.15		Penalty +/- per Game (All Situations)		-.14	21st
15th	50.24%		Shot Attempt Percentage (5V5 Score Adjusted)		50.59%	13th
17th	48.87%		Scoring Chance Percentage (5V5 Score Adjusted)		49.06%	16th
7th	101.52%		P.D.O. (5V5)		96.31%	31st
2nd	9.87%		Shooting Percentage (5V5)		5.61%	31st
22nd	91.65%		Save Percentage (5V5)		90.70%	30th
Data from Hockey-Reference.com and Natural Stat Trick
The Enemies' Lair
PensBurgh

The New York Islanders are all set to renew their rivalry tonight against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Win or lose (preferably win), it's always eventful when these two teams square off as the two teams have had more than their fair share of playoff battles with Pittsburgh getting the better of them as of late. With that being said, this is the first game between the two teams this season and the Islanders have been the better team so far this year. It's also worth mentioning that this is the 25th anniversary season of the Islanders upset of the Penguins in the 1993 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

The Penguins have had some horrid luck at even strength posting the league's worst shooting percentage and the second worst save percentage in five-on-five situations. This lackluster performance has hurt the defending two-time Stanley Cup champions as they're currently ranked in the bottom half of the league in points percentage. Much of that has been due to the struggles of Matt Murray who is out of tonight's contest with an injury however and tonight's starter Tristan Jarry has a better xSV% than either Islander netminder.

The forward corps for the Islanders will be without the services of Alan Quine tonight. Quine's performance has been nothing short of abhorrent for them this year and he might have drawn the short straw to exit the lineup with Casey Cizikas returning anyway, but he is in fact injured (or maybe just "injured"). With that being said, nobody should wish an injury upon a player and hopefully he can get back to 100 percent soon even if he doesn't return to the lineup.

Johnny Boychuk went off limping in the six to two shellacking at the hands of the Tampa Bay Lightning and he's out of this contest. Thomas Hickey makes his triumphant return to the lineup as Ryan Pulock moves up to the top pairing and the Islanders top possession tandem of Hickey and Scot Mayfield is reunited. Dennis Seidenberg is still a healthy scratch with Calvin de Haan and Adam Pelech anchoring the second pairing.

Jaroslav Halak is in net for tonight's game. The puck drops at 7:05 P.M. E.S.T. The Islanders are free from the MSG+2 shackles and will be aired on standard MSG+, hopefully no program guide required.

New York Islanders Lineup

Pittsburgh Penguins Lineup