Game Preview: Islanders vs. Penguins

NEW YORK ISLANDERS (5-4-2) VS PITTSBURGH PENGUINS (5-5-1)
7PM | NASSAU COLISEUM
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The New York Islanders look to extend their point streak (2-0-2) to five games as they host the Penguins on Thursday night at Nassau Coliseum.
The Islanders won their second-straight game on Monday night with a 2-0 victory over the New York Rangers. The win was powered by a late push from the Islanders and its Identity Line, who scored both goals in the span of 2:05.

The Islanders look to extend their point streak to five games as they play Pittsburgh in the second of six meetings this month.
Casey Cizikas scored the game winner 11:15 into the third period while Matt Martin scored the insurance goal - his first tally of the season - at 13:20. Semyon Varlamov earned his third shutout of the season and backstopped the Islanders with 30 saves. In doing so, the netminder also became the first goaltender in franchise history to shut out the Rangers twice in the same season.
The Penguins have had four full days off - due to having to reschedule two games against New Jersey due to COVID protocol - since their last meeting against the Islanders (a 4-3 loss) on Saturday.
The Islanders will look to increase their season series lead over the Pittsburgh Penguins to 2-0-0 in the second of six meetings this month. Of the 12 games the Islanders have scheduled in February, half of them are against the Penguins. It's safe to say, the teams will now each other pretty well come March 1st.
"You take a playoff approach," Islanders Head Coach Barry Trotz said of facing the Penguins. "The good thing is that the prep to play them is shortened. You get familiar with a team and it's tendencies, the things that us coaches are talking about players are seeing first hand almost every second day because you play them so much. It sort of takes on a playoff preparation. There's certain things that the Rangers do that the Penguins do. We're going to end up playing them six times in a three-week span. We'll get really familiar with them. They're a good hockey team."

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ISLANDERS NOTES

• Cizikas' goal was his second of the season and first game winner. The center has three points (2G, 1A) through 11 games.
• Martin's goal was his first of the season and the winger also had an assist on Cizikas' goal. Martin has three points (1G, 2A) in his last two games and through 11 games this season.
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• Martin's goal was his first of the season and the winger also had an assist on Cizikas' goal. Martin has three points (1G, 2A) in his last two games and through 11 games this season.
• With a secondary assist on Martin's goal, Mathew Barzal extended his point streak to five games with seven points (2G, 5A) over that span. Through 11 games this season, the 23-year-old leads the Islanders in scoring with 12 points (4G, 8A).
• Clutterbuck had the primary assist on Martin's goal and now has two points (1G, 1A) in his last two games. Through 11 games this season, the winger has three points (1G, 2A).
• Varlamov's third shutout gave him sole possession of the league lead and also improved his record to 5-2-1. The Russian netminder has a 1.88 GAA and a .932 SV%.
• Andy Greene led the Isles with four blocks against the Rangers and leads the team with his 26 blocks this season. With the four blocks, Greene recorded his 1,800 block of his NHL career and is the fifth active NHL player with at least 1,800 blocks.
• With the Islanders win over the Rangers, Trotz earned his 850th career win as an NHL coach. With win No. 850, Trotz also overtook Ken Hitchcock to gain sole possession of third place on the NHL's all-time list, behind Joel Quenneville (931) and Scotty Bowman (1,244).
• With depth down the middle at the center position, the Islanders continue to be one of the best faceoff teams in the league. The Islanders are tied with the Carolina Hurricanes for their third-ranked FOW% of 53.8%.
• Forwards Otto Koivula and Dmytro Timashov were
reassigned from the New York Islanders taxi squad to the Bridgeport Sound Tigers
on Wednesday morning.
• Anthony Beauvillier will not be in the lineup against the Penguins as confirmed by Trotz on Wednesday afternoon. The winger has missed the last six games after sustaining a lower-body injury against New Jersey on Jan. 24.
"He will not be ready tomorrow," Trotz said on Wednesday afternoon. "He hasn't skated with the team yet, but he's skated quite well [on his own]. You could see him joining us fairly soon."
*Update: Coach Trotz confirmed ahead of Thursday night's game against the Pens that Semyon Varlamov will start in goal for the Islanders.

Video: Practice 2/10: Barry Trotz

PENGUINS NOTES

• The Penguins have been talk of the NHL this week after announcing on Tuesday the hires of Ron Hextall as the team's General Manager and Brian Burke as the President of Hockey Operations.
• Pierre-Oliver Joseph, Evgeni Malkin and Jake Guentzel scored for the Penguins against the Islanders on Saturday. For Joseph, the goal was the first of his NHL career, while Malkin deposited his second goal of the season and extended his point streak (1G, 2A) to three games and Guentzel scored his fourth of the season and dished out an assist.
• Tristan Jarry made 22 saves in his seventh start of the season. The 25-year-old has a record of 2-4-1, a 3.95 GAA and a .857 SV%.
• Jared McCann left Saturday's game in the first period and is still being evaluated for his availability on Thursday per Penguins Head Coach Mike Sullivan.
• Marcus Pettersson joined the team for practice on Wednesday afternoon wearing a no-contact jersey. The defenseman has missed the last seven games with an upper-body injury.
• Malkin left Wednesday's practice early, out of precaution because the forward had an eye irritation according to Sullivan.
• Mike Matheson, who had just been activated off of IR after missing eight games and played in his first game back against the Islanders, left the Penguins practice early on Tuesday following a collision with a teammate. Sullivan noted post-practice that the defenseman would be evaluated.
• Sidney Crosby leads the Penguins in scoring with nine points (4G, 5A) through 11 games this season.