Here come the Islanders! They pulled to within two points of Boston for the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference with a hard-fought 3-2 victory over the New York Rangers on Wednesday.
Anders Lee, Andrew Ladd and Nikolay Kulemin scored the goals for the Islanders, who beat the Rangers for the third time in four meetings this season. With the victory, New York improved to 17-9-4 since interim coach Doug Weight replaced the fired Jack Capuano.
The Islanders will look to sustain the momentum of that huge win they lock horns with the Pittsburgh Penguins later tonight. They will fancy their chances of doing just that as they have fared extremely well on the road of late, as they’ve won four of their last five away games.
The Isles will also take comfort in the fact that they defeated the Penguins in their last meeting on November 30. They pulled off a 5-3 victory in that contest, thanks in large part to the heroics of Anders Lee, who scored the tiebreaking goal with 27 seconds remaining.
History beckons for captain John Tavares, as he’s only one goal away from tying Bobby Nystrom (235) for eighth place on the Islanders’ career goal-scoring list. Tavares is once again having a phenomenal season for New York, leading the team not only in goals (27) but also in points scored (61) as well.
The Pittsburgh Penguins ended their two-game road trip on a sour note as they absorbed a gut-wrenching 2-1 shootout loss to the Ottawa Senators on Thursday night. It was a disappointing loss for the Penguins, who had their three-game winning streak snapped. They will look to get their season back on track when they face the New York Islanders tonight.
For the Penguins to accomplish that feat, they will need to improve on their play on the offensive end. The Penguins managed just a single goal on Thursday after scoring 13 goals in their previous three games. Mike Condon had a lot to do with the defending champs’ struggles, as the Ottawa goaltender made 34 outstanding saves, none bigger than the two incredible point-blank stops that he pulled off in overtime.
Pittsburgh is tops in the NHL in scoring, averaging 3.5 goals per game this season. The Penguins will be licking their chops at the prospect of facing a New York defense that’s surrendering 3.0 goals per game this campaign (26th in the NHL).
Expected to lead Pittsburgh in tonight’s game is captain Sidney Crosby. He leads the team in scoring with 41 goals and 81 points this season. Crosby was involved in yet another controversy on Thursday as he injured defenseman Marc Methot’s finger with a two-handed slash.
