The Islanders are in the midst of an extremely difficulty part of their 2013/2014 schedule. Tonight they return home to face Metro Division leaders; the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Islanders are coming off two come from behind wins against the Flyers and Rangers. However, falling behind to the high flying Penguins is a recipe for disaster. The Pens defeated the Canadiens last night and since they are playing on back to back nights; Jeff Zatkoff will be in net for Pittsburgh. The Islanders will counter with Kevin Poulin between the pipes.

Islanders’ head coach Jack Capuano announced that there will be no changes from the lineup that defeated the Rangers Tuesday night. The Isles did have a different look in practice as both Evgeni Nabokov and Lubomir Visnovsky are skating with the team and Visnovsky is cleared for contact. It is expected that both will be back in the lineup within a week.

If you did not get a chance to watch the debut episode of NHL Revealed, I highly recommend the program. It truly gave us an incredible look inside the Islanders following Kyle Okposo and the birth of his daughter but it also shined an even brighter light on emerging super star John Tavares. In a moment before the home game against the Stars, cameras caught Tavares meditating with the plaque of Mike Bossy almost summoning his skills. It was an amazing sight to behold. NHL Revealed also showed John Tavares the captain; consistently talking to Ryan Strome, mentoring him throughout the game. It also showed a hilarious conversation that Tavares had with a NHL Referee after a very questionable call.

The bottom line is this documentary showed the maturation of a hockey player that is obsessed with the game and obsessed with making everyone around him better. If it is possible for Islander fans to love JT more, Isles nation exploded on Twitter during the show last night professing their love for their captain.

Moving forward though the Islanders need to find a way to get any kind of points against the Penguins. This of course is no small task however these games seem to bring the best out of the Islanders and they really do have a knack of getting under the Penguins skin. Regardless of this the Isles can’t be sloppy or careless with the puck and they must stay out of the penalty box if they have any chance of winning tonight. The Penguins have no problem making teams look bad; the Islanders cannot do them any favors and make it easy for them. As always for more on all things hockey please follow me on Twitter and Instagram at @DanDanNoodles78.

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