That was a long three days without any games this late in the season for the Penguins. Rest this late in the season is a nice bonus and it means even more for a team that leads the league in back to back games. There are still three of those situations left with only ten games left including tonight.

Tonight’s game will be against the New York Islanders and for John Tavares’ sake I sure hope it is the last time the Penguins play the Islanders with him on it. Tavares’ situation is not like the Steven Stamkos’ one from a couple of summers ago. Steven Stamkos was deliberating between staying with one of the best teams in the Eastern Conference and another team of his personal choosing. John Tavares would be deciding to stay in a dumpster fire situation or entertaining another team of his own personal choosing. The only possible thing keeping Tavares on the Island would be loyalty. There is nothing about the arena situation (still three years away), GM, and current roster that screams, yes stay here. Islander fans won’t want to hear that. I wouldn’t either, but facts are facts. It speaks to how poorly run the franchise has been. They have missed the playoffs six out of his nine seasons (including 2017-18) with only one playoff series win over the Florida Panthers. Get out, John. You owe it to yourself to make money and play in an organization that is competent. You’re one of the best in the league. You are 27 years old. You only have so many years of your best hockey left.

The Islanders have one win in their last 12 games. Four of those losses came with a charity point. They have earned six out of a total 24 points. They were in the playoff picture a month ago, not anymore. Pittsburgh’s situation is that they are two points back of the division lead with the same amount of games played as the Washington Capitals.

There is some goaltending news. Pittsburgh will see the return of Matt Murray this evening after missing multiple games with a concussion. The team has also decided to send Tristan Jarry back down to the AHL and have Casey DeSmith be the backup goaltender for the foreseeable future. They want Jarry to play more and to get those minutes he will need to play in the AHL assuming Matt Murray stays healthy.

If yesterday’s practice is any indication we will be seeing Bryan Rust with Sidney Crosby and Conor Sheary back to the third line. I liked how Rust had fit with the third line, but it seems that Conor Sheary is not holding up his end of the deal to make that work long term. Bryan Rust has played with Sidney Crosby and Jake Guentzel 159 minutes total the past few years at 5v5. The results have been good. They control the shot attempts at a tune of 57.55%. They score 60% of the goals. They have an xGF% of 58.47. These are great underlying numbers albeit with a smaller sample.

The Sheary-Brassard-Kessel line has been terrible so far with the caveat that it’s only in 14 minutes of ice time together. Certainly not a big enough sample to draw any meaningful conclusions. That sample size is going to grow so we’ll see what happens.

Thanks for reading!

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