Penguins at Islanders preview

PENGUINS (20-19-3) at ISLANDERS (20-17-4)
7 p.m. ET; SN, TVA Sports, MSG+, ATTSN-PT, NHL.TV

New York, which has been outscored 21-8 during its losing streak, is in a stretch of four straight games against Metropolitan Division opponents; they lost 6-4 at the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday. Jaroslav Halak will start after Thomas Greiss allowed five goals on 31 shots against Philadelphia.
The Penguins have lost four of their past six games and were shut out by the Carolina Hurricanes 4-0 at home on Thursday. Pittsburgh is 2-4-2 in the second game of back-to-back sets this season and has been outscored 39-22.

Players to watch

Penguins center Evgeni Malkin has 10 points (five goals, five assists) in his past nine games.
Islanders rookie center Mathew Barzal has nine points (five goals, four assists) in his past nine games.

They said it

"I think we're all aware of it and it should show in our play. It hasn't. But yeah, I think we're all aware of what the situation is." -- Captain Sidney Crosby on the Penguins, who are in seventh place in the Metropolitan Division
"I think we got pucks deep. We went to work, we crashed the net, we got pucks on net, and then I think the biggest thing is we were a team out there. We worked together, we stuck up for each other. I think that's a big period for us moving forward and we got to build off that." -- Islanders defenseman Ryan Pulock on carrying over their play from the third period against the Flyers

Penguins projected lineup

Dominik Simon
-- Sidney Crosby -- Conor Sheary
Patric Hornqvist -- Evgeni Malkin -- Phil Kessel
Carl Hagelin -- Jake Guentzel --
Daniel Sprong
Tom Kuhnhackl -- Riley Sheahan -- Ryan Reaves
Matt Hunwick -- Kris Letang
Olli Maatta -- Jamie Oleksiak
Ian Cole -- Justin Schultz
Tristan Jarry
Matt Murray
Scratched:Frank Corrado](https://www.nhl.com/player/frank-corrado-8476302?season=20172018)
Injured:Bryan Rust (upper body), Chad Ruhwedel (upper body), Brian Dumoulin (concussion), Carter Rowney (upper body)

Islanders projected lineup

Anders Lee -- John Tavares -- Josh Bailey
Andrew Ladd -- Mathew Barzal -- Jordan Eberle
Shane Prince -- Brock Nelson --
Alan Quine
Jason Chimera -- Casey Cizikas -- Cal Clutterbuck
Nick Leddy -- Dennis Seidenberg
Adam Pelech -- Scott Mayfield
Thomas Hickey --
Ryan Pulock
Jaroslav Halak
Thomas Greiss
Scratched:Sebastian Aho, Tanner Fritz
Injured:Nikolay Kulemin (upper body), Calvin de Haan (upper body), Johnny Boychuk (lower body)

Status report

Neither team held a morning skate. ... Dumoulin will miss his second straight game and is day to day. Jarry will start after Murray played Thursday. ... Boychuk will miss his fifth straight game but could return Sunday against the New Jersey Devils.

Stat pack

Crosby has no goals in his past eight games. … The Islanders have allowed at least five goals in seven of their past 11 games.