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The Pittsburgh Penguins are on the road to play the New York Islanders on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. ET.
Pittsburgh (5-7-1) is coming off a 3-1 win over Montreal on Saturday, which was its second consecutive win.
Ahead of the divisional matchup, here is what the Penguins lineup is projected to look like.
Penguins projected lineup
Forwards
- Evgeni Malkin - Sidney Crosby - Rickard Rakell
- Drew O'Connor - Lars Eller - Cody Glass
- Michael Bunting - Noel Acciari - Jesse Puljujarvi
- Kevin Hayes - Blake Lizotte - Anthony Beauviller
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The Penguins have been trying to get the bottom of the forward group to produce offense as they are mostly led by the top line. Crosby has 14 points through 13 games and has been a dominant force.
"I think inevitably, he's always such a determined player," Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said on Saturday, via NHL.com. "When he goes through some of the ebbs and flows of a season, like all players do, he has an uncanny ability to will himself out of it.”
Pittsburgh is averaging 2.92 goals per game.
Defenseman
- Matt Grzelcyk - Kris Letang
- Marcus Pettersson - Erik Karlsson
- Ryan Graves - Jack St. Ivany
The Penguins blue line has had some troubles this season as the depth has been an issue.
Goalies
- Alex Nedeljkovic
- Joel Blomqvist
Pittsburgh is without Tristan Jarry who is on a conditioning loan in the AHL. Jarry has struggled and was sent to the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins to try and find his game.
This season, Nedeljkovic is 2-2-1 with a 2.75 GAA and a .903 SV%.
Penguins vs Islanders: Preview
Pittsburgh is a +120 underdog on the road while the over/under is set at six goals.
The Penguins have been playing well as of late, but goaltending has been an issue. On the other hand, New York has several key players sidelined, including star forward Mat Barzal who is out for several weeks with an upper-body injury.
The injuries will hinder the Islanders' scoring as Nedeljkovic will be able to limit New York's offense to help lead Pittsburgh to an upset win and its third consecutive victory.
Prediction: Penguins 3, Islanders 2.
