Pens @ Islanders Part II

The Pens are 47-23-6 in a 4th seed part in the Eastern Conference with 100 points (Rangers with 105 points). The Isles are 32-33-11 with a 13th spots in the Eastern Conference with 75 points.

A loss today would officially put the Islanders out of the playoffs. Even though it is almost impossible for them to make it to the playoffs. As seen on Tuesday, the Isles are not going down with out a fight.

The Isles top line of Moulson, Tavares, and Paneteau have been keeping the team afloat. There not the only ones.

Bailey has a five game point streak going and Okposo with a 3 game goal scoring streak.

Nielson is another great playmaker for the Isles. He scored twice and added an assist in Tuesday's game against the Pens. He has eight points, four goals and four assist, in his last five games. The Pens will have to do a better job of shutting him down tonight.

More goalie woes for the Isles. Nabokov left Tuesday's game with a lower body injury and was replaced with Al Montoya. He will likely start in net for the Isles tonight. The Isles announced that they have signed netminder John Grahme, 36, for the reminder of the season. He has 224 career games in his 13 year professional career.

For the Pens they have Neal. In Tuesday's game the Pens had a season high 54 shots, Neal had twelve of them! That is quite a bit folks for one game. He was able to convert two of those shots to goals and tallied an assist on the night. One of the goals was his 16th power play goal and tied him with Hartnell for the NHL lead in power play goals. Neal now has seven goals, nine assist, and sixteen points in his last nine games. He has multiple points in five of those nine games.

The Pens are 9-3-2 in their fourteen visits to the Nassau Coliseum with a 2-0 record this season. Duper scored the game winning goal in both contest. In the month of March the Pens are 10-2-1.

Sid is only three points away from being the sixth player in franchise history to reach 600 or more career points. If he reaches this huge milestone tonight he will be the sixth fastest player in the NHL to do so (429 games) and tying him with Eric Lindros. He would also be the sixth youngest player in NHL history to do so. The youngest since Pierre Turgeon that did it in 1994 with the Isles.

Geno is on fire for the Pens. He leads the NHL in points at 99. He has had at least one point in his last nine games.


Flower will start between the pipes for the Pens. He is on the verge of his own huge milestone. With a win tonight he would tie Barrasso's all-time franchise win record (226). Also only two wins shy from Barrasso's season win franchise record (43). He is tied with Rinne at 41 wins for the league lead in wins. Winning this he would be the third goaltender in team history to lead the league in wins with Barrasso in 1992-93 and Wregget in 1994-95.

Injuries:

Pens
Tanger with lower body injury
Vitale with upper body injury
Lovejoy with knee injury
Niskanen with upper body injury

Isles
Rick DiPietro with sports hernia/knee swelling
Evgeni Nabokov with lower body injury



LETS GO PENS!!!

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