Penguins’ Projected Lineup & Notes Against Islanders – 12.28.24

The Pittsburgh Penguins (16-15-5) return from their Christmas break, sitting one point from a wildcard spot in the Eastern Conference.

Their first opponent is the New York Islanders, a team just four points behind them in the standings and hoping to crash the wildcard race party.

Tonight, one of the key things to watch for is whether or not Sidney Crosby can become Pittsburgh’s all-time assist leader. Before the break, he had three helpers in a contest against the Philadelphia Flyers to tie Mario Lemieux’s record of 1,033 helpers.

Meanwhile, the last time the Penguins scored a touchdown in a game was on Dec. 12, when they defeated Montreal 9-2. However, the Ottawa Senators shut them down in their next contest, and they lost 3-2 in overtime.

Which Penguins team will show up on Long Island tonight? Will it be the NHL’s 10th-best offense or a team scrapping for every possible point who sometimes can’t score more than twice in a game?

Between the pipes, Tristan Jarry will get his first start against the Islanders this season since Alex Nedeljkovic suffered the shutout loss in November.

It will be his 16th career start against New York, one of his favorite opponents, thanks to an 11-3-1 record. Jarry’s record is 8-5-2 this year with a 3.47 GAA and .885 SV%.

The Islanders are rolling with Ilya Sorokin in goal, who is making his 26th start of the campaign. He is getting a lot of work these days while Sergei Varlamov recovers from a lower-body injury.

Sorokin is 9-5-0 in 14 games against the Penguins and playing very uncharacteristically this season, with a 10-11-4 record, a 2.95 GAA, and a .898 SV%.

New York (33 points) ranks eighth in the Metropolitan Division and has the seventh-worst record in the league. Meanwhile, the Penguins (37 points) remain fourth in the Metropolitan Division and one point out of the wildcard race.

Penguins & Islanders Leaders

• Goals: Rickard Rakell (16) / Anders Lee (13)

• Assists: Sidney Crosby (29) / Bo Horvat (16)

• Points: Sidney Crosby (39) / Anders Lee (27)

• PIM: Michael Bunting (30) / Maxim Tsyplakov (22)

• PPG: Michael Bunting (5) / Anders Lee (3)

• SOG: Sidney Crosby (107) / Anders Lee (104)

Per the Penguins staff at NHL.com, here’s a breakdown of tonight’s lineup. (Subject to change)

FORWARDS

Rickard Rakell — Sidney Crosby — Bryan Rust

Michael Bunting — Evgeni Malkin — Drew O’Connor

Anthony Beauvillier — Cody Glass — Philip Tomasino

Matt Nieto — Blake Lizotte — Noel Acciari

DEFENSE

Pierre-Olivier Joseph — Kris Letang

Matt Grzelcyk — Erik Karlsson

Ryan Graves — Ryan Shea

GOALIES

Tristan Jarry

Alex Nedeljkovic

SCRATCHES

Kevin Hayes, Jesse Puljujarvi, Nathan Clurman

Tonight is the second of four meetings between the Penguins and Islanders. New York won the first contest at UBS Arena on Nov. 5 by a 4-3 score in a shootout.

The game is available on Sportsnet Pittsburgh and MSGN. The puck drops at 7:30 p.m. ET.