The Pittsburgh Penguins will travel to New York to face the Islanders at UBS Arena, with puck drop scheduled for 7:30 PM. The game will be broadcast on TNT, and fans can listen on 105.9 The X or via the Penguins app.
Heading into the matchup, the Penguins hold a record of 28-15-11, while the Islanders stand at 30-21-5. In recent meetings between the two teams, Pittsburgh has gone 8-6-4 in their last 18 games against New York. Looking further back, they have posted a 12-7-4 record over their last 23 matchups with the Islanders. Since November 1, 2018, Pittsburgh has suffered just eight regulation losses in its last 30 games against New York (15-8-7).
Pittsburgh has performed well on the road this season with a 15-7-4 record in away games over 26 contests. This win total places them tied for eighth in the league and gives them a point percentage of .654.
The team enters tonight’s game having won four consecutive road games and holding a strong run of seven wins in their last eight road contests. Since January 19, they lead the league with a plus-15 goal differential.
On special teams, Pittsburgh has been effective recently by killing off 33 of their last 35 penalties over eight games—a success rate of more than ninety-four percent.
Individual performances have contributed to these results. Erik Karlsson has recorded seven goals and nineteen assists in forty career games versus New York, ranking him third among active defensemen for points against that franchise. Rickard Rakell has tallied ten goals and twelve assists in twenty-seven career appearances against the Islanders and is currently on a five-game point streak when visiting Long Island.
Sidney Crosby continues to be productive for Pittsburgh as he approaches his fourteenth season reaching thirty goals—he is three shy of that milestone entering tonight’s contest. Only six players in NHL history have more thirty-goal seasons than Crosby; among active players only Alex Ovechkin surpasses him with nineteen such campaigns.
Crosby’s dominance extends specifically to matchups with New York: “Throughout his career, Sidney Crosby has played dominant hockey against the New York Islanders. In 91 career games, Crosby has recorded 139 points (44G-95A) against the Islanders, helping Pittsburgh to a 53-25-13 record in those games. He has almost double the amount of multi-point games against them (41) as opposed to games with no points (23). Only Jaromir Jagr (155) has more points against the Islanders in NHL history than Crosby’s 139. Crosby’s 139 points versus the Islanders are also the most that any active player has against one single team.”
New additions have made an impact as well; Egor Chinakhov joined Pittsburgh on January first and since then leads all players in goals during that span—he has notched seven goals and three assists across sixteen appearances while contributing to an overall team record of eleven wins, three losses, and two overtime defeats during those outings.
Anthony Mantha is another standout performer lately: “Anthony Mantha has been on a heater during the Penguins last seven games. On Saturday, he scored two goals and recorded his fourth multi-point game in the last seven games. In that time, no one on Pittsburgh has more goals or points than Mantha.”
After returning from their holiday break on December twenty-fifth, Pittsburgh picked up points in fifteen out of eighteen contests by posting thirteen wins along with three losses and two overtime setbacks—a stretch placing them near league leaders across several categories.
