The New York Islanders will look to bounce back against the Pittsburgh Penguins today, after dropping the first game of the series 4-1 on Thursday night.
It was a fairly disappointing effort from the Islanders overall. They were able to get some chances but couldn’t sustain enough pressure in the Penguins’ end.
Defensively, the Islanders weren't terrible but there did seem to be a lack of urgency in the defensive zone. Brock Nelson had pucks taken from him in dangerous spots on more than one occasion (with one instance leading to Pittsburgh’s first goal) and there weren’t as many battles being won along the boards.
We can probably expect a physical game today, after a dangerous hit by Mike Matheson sent Mathew Barzal into the boards and Anders Lee retaliated late in the game with a high cross-check on Matheson. There’s certainly some bad blood between these division rivals and we can expect the Islanders to come out harder today.
Puck drop is at 7 p.m.
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