Islanders: Previewing the Most Important Road Trip of the Season

The Islanders will end their four-game road trip on March 15th against their Metropolitan Division rival, the Pittsburgh Penguins. Puck drop is scheduled for 6 p.m.

Currently, the Penguins sit in third place in the Metropolitan Division with 84 points in 68 games.

Before this game, Pittsburgh will play three straight on the road against Metropolitan Division opponents. This will be the second game of a back-to-back for the Penguins.

The Islanders will see a much different team than the last time they faced Pittsburgh (November 21st). Pittsburgh was extremely active in the trade market.

The Penguins have acquired Jason Zucker, Phil Varone, Riley Barber, Patrick Marleau, Conor Sheary, and Evan Rodrigues.

Jake Guentzel is still out of the lineup after having right shoulder surgery at the end of December.

The Penguins are led by their top line of Zucker, Crosby and Sheary. And right behind them is a star-studded second line of Marleau, Malkin and Rust. Evgeni Malkin leads the Penguins in assists and points with 48 assists and 71 points.

Pittsburgh also has a great top two d-pairs of Dumoulin-Letang and Pettersson-Marino. Letang and Dumoulin lead the Penguins in ice-time and are definitely the Penguins go to defensive pair.

In net, we will either see Tristan Jarry or Matt Murray. Murray has 4 more games played than Jarry and can be seen as Pittsburgh’s number one goalie.

This game will definitely be huge in determining the playoff picture in the Eastern Conference.

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Isles Country: How do you think the Islanders will do on this road trip? Leave your predictions in the comments below!