Game Preview: Islanders vs. Penguins

NEW YORK ISLANDERS AT PITTSBURGH PENGUINS
GAME 1 | SERIES TIED 0-0
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The New York Islanders and Pittsburgh Penguins First-Round playoff matchup begins with Game 1 on Sunday afternoon at PPG Paints Arena at 12 p.m. ET. The Islanders enter the series as the fourth seed in the East Division, while the Penguins are the top seed.
"We're just excited, we've had about a week here waiting for it," Jordan Eberle said. "It's been nice to have a little bit of time off to get some practices in, work on some stuff, re-energize and get set to go. There's just excitement. This is the time of year that you wait all year for, you work so hard to get to and now, it's here. We're ready to go."

The two divisional rivals have seen plenty of each other over the years and especially as of late. The Islanders swept the Penguins 4-0 two years ago in the First Round of the playoffs. Meanwhile, during this year's 56-game slate, the Islanders went 2-4-2 against Pittsburgh where five of the eight meetings were decided by one goal.
For the Islanders, Mathew Barzal (3G, 3A), Brock Nelson (3G, 3A), Josh Bailey (1G, 5A) and Nick Leddy (6A) all tied for the team lead with six points. Jordan Eberle led the team with four goals. For the Pens, Kris Letang (4G, 5A) and Sidney Crosby (3G, 6A) totaled a team-high nine points throughout the regular-season-series, while Bryan Rust led the team with five goals.
"They've got a really good team over there and we've tried to prepare as well as we can," Eberle said. "The rivalry is still there. You look at this year, we played a lot of close games. I expect no different. Come playoff time, it's really those inches and those small little plays that matter...We want to try and get some momentum and some traction here and continue to move."

ISLANDERS NOTES:

• The Islanders finished the regular season with a 32-17-7 record.
• True to their identity, the Islanders were one of the top defensive teams in the league as they finished the season with a 2.23 goals against average, which ranked second best.
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• The line of Anthony Beauvillier, Nelson and Bailey ended the season riding a hot streak with points in their last seven games. Beauvillier in particular, has racked up eight points (5G, 3A) in his seven-game streak.
• Barzal, who finished the regular season atop the Islanders' points standings (17G, 28A, 45P) enters the postseason with goals in back-to-back games and four points over that span.
• The Islanders goalie tandem of Semyon Varlamov and Ilya Sorokin has been the backbone of the team all season long and finished in second place in the race for the William M. Jennings Trophy that is annually awarded to the goalie pairs that played a minimum of 25 games for the team with the fewest goals scored against it, based on regular-season play. The Islanders duo surrendered only 125 goals and totaled 10 shutouts. Varlamov posted a 19-11-4 record and seven shutouts, which is tied for the most in the NHL. Sorokin secured a 13-6-3 record to cap off his rookie season.
• The Islanders have three new players at the NHL Trade Deadline in forwards Kyle Palmieri and Travis Zajac and defenseman Braydon Coburn.
• The Islanders enter the postseason with a healthy lineup having used the last two weeks to rest players and recuperate. After leaving Monday's season finale after 40 minutes for precautionary reasons, Varlamov skated on Friday with the taxi squad and Saturday with the main group.
• Both the Islanders and Penguins were dominant on home ice this season. The Islanders earned a home-ice record of 21-4-3, ranked third best behind Colorado and Pittsburgh.

PENGUINS NOTES:

• Pittsburgh finished in first place in the East Division with a 37-16-3 record.
• The Penguins entered the postseason on a winning note with three-straight wins.
• Pittsburgh's top line of Jake Guentzel, Crosby and Rust were an offensive force throughout the regular season. The trio ranked in the top-five in scoring for the Pens with a combined total of 161 points (69G, 92A), with all three skaters reaching the 20-goal mark and playing in at least 55 games each.
• Letang posted a 45-point campaign (7G, 38A) which ranked third highest among all defensemen in the NHL.
• Tristan Jarry and Casey DeSmith received the majority of the workload between the pipes for the pipes, despite each of them missing some time due to injuries. Jarry made 38 starts, earned a 25-9-3 record. DeSmith received the starting nod 17 times and strung together a record of 11-7-0.
• The Pens added centerman Jeff Carter at the NHL Trade Deadline to bolster their depth down the middle. Since being acquired on April 12, Carter has compiled nine goals in 13 games.
• Pittsburgh enters the postseason healthy after battling injuries up and down their lineup all season long. A few days ago on May 12, the team received full-attendance for the first time this season as goaltenders Casey DeSmith and Tristan Jarry (upper-body); forwards Brandon Tanev (upper-body) and Evan Rodrigues (lower-body); and defenseman Mike Matheson (upper-body) all participated. DeSmith missed the Penguins practice on May 15 with a lower-body injury and is considered day to day.