Game 21: Penguins faceoff against the New York Islanders

Pittsburgh Penguins (12-5-3) at New York Islanders (9-10-2)

Pittsburgh: 1-0-0

Pittsburgh – Miroslav Satan, 9 goals; Evgeni Malkin, 24 assists, 31 points;

New York – Bill Guerin, Trent Hunter, 8 goals; Doug Weight 17 assists, 21 points

Pittsburgh – Dany Sabourin (4-2-1, 1.66 GAA, .935 SV%)

New York– Joey MacDonald (9-7-2, 2.78 GAA, .912 SV%)

Pittsburgh – Power Play: 18.3%, Penalty Kill: 84.3%

New York – Power Play: 17.0%, Penalty Kill: 84.0%

Max Talbot – Sidney Crosby – Miroslav Satan

Pascal Dupuis – Evgeni Malkin – Petr Sykora

Matt Cooke – Jordan Staal – Tyler Kennedy

Ruslan Fedotenko – Mike Zigomanis – Eric Godard

Brooks Orpik – Kris Letang

Alex Goligoski – Rob Scuderi

Hal Gill – Phillipe Boucher

Dany Sabourin will start in goal

1st PP Kennedy – Crosby – Satan

Goligoski – Malkin

2nd PP Cooke – Staal – Sykora

Letang – Boucher

The Penguins begin a stetch of 3 games in four nights after losing two out of their last three games.The Penguins are 1-0 against the Islanders at Nassau Coliseum this season with their 4-3 shootout victory on Nov. 8. The Penguins will be without goaltender Marc Andre Fleury for the fourth consecutive game. Fleury remains sidelined with an undisclosed injury. Backup goaltender Dany Sabourin is off to a 4-2-1 start and has posted a 1.66 GAA, and .935 SV%.

Sean Bergenheim – Doug Weight – Bill Guerin

Jeff Tambellini – Josh Bailey – Trent Hunter

Andy Hilbert – Richard Park – Jon Sim

Mitch Fritz – Jeremy Colliton – Tim Jackman

Andy Sutton – Mark Streit

Brendan Witt 24 – Radek Martinek

Chris Campoli – Bruno Gervais

The Islanders are in a rebuilding process but have won five of six games and appear to be buying into Scott Gordon’s system. The loss of goaltender Rick DiPietro early in the season was a major blow to the Islanders who got off to a sluggish 4-9-2 start but the Islanders have turned things around behind the play of goaltender Joey MacDonald (9-7-2 record, 2.78 GAA, and .912 SV%).¬†Over the past six games the Islanders power play has converated at a rate of¬†27.5%. The Islanders¬†power play¬†is led by¬†defenseman Mark Steit (5 goals – 9 assists – 14 pts) who has proved to be a great signing by General Manager Garth Snow.

Last Game: The Islanders beat the Montreal Canadiens 4-3 Monday night. Forward Kyle Okposo, the Islanders top prospect remains sidelined with a wrist injury.