Pens vs. Islanders Preview

The Islanders visit the Igloo tonight at 7:30. The Pens lead the season series 4 to 3 with all 7 games, with the exception of the most recent a 4-1 loss, begin very competitive. I do not expect that fact to change tonight but I do think that Pittsburgh will take the Islanders more seriously this time. Even though New York has no chance of making the playoffs, Ted Nolan has this team believing that the games they still have remaining are worth winning, if for nothing more than to play spoilers.

Sidney Crosby is expected to be back in the line up after missing the last 7 games with a recurrence of the ankle injury. Sid and Marian Hossa will be on the same line for the first time so anticipation of this is at a very high level. Expect Sid and Hossa to be a lethal combination throughout the remaining games and playoffs. This should force opposing teams to load up the best defensemen against the top line and allow the Malkin/Malone/Sykora line to have a considerable amount of offensive freedom since they will not have the top tier defense playing against them.