Expected lines for tonight's game

Here's how the lines are expected to look for both teams for the Pittsburgh Penguins and New York Islanders game tonight in Pittsburgh:

21 Kyle Okposo - 91 John Tavares - 26 Matt Moulson
40 Michael Grabner - 51 Frans Nielsen - 24 Brad Boyes
41 David Ullstrom - 10 Keith Aucoin - 13 Colin McDonald
Casey Ciziaks - 16 Marty Reasoner - 17 Matt Martin

Defensemen
2 Mark Streit - 37 Brian Strait
3 Travis Hamonic* - 47 Andrew MacDonald
14 Thomas Hickey - 7 Matt Carkner

Goaltenders
20 Evgeni Nabokov
39 Rick DiPietro

Hamonic is questionable/doubtful with an ankle injury.

Chris Kunitz - Sidney Crosby - Pascal Dupuis
Tyler Kennedy - Evgeni Malkin - James Neal
Tanner Glass - Brandon Sutter - Matt Cooke
Eric Tangradi - Joe Vitale - Craig Adams

Brooks Orpik - Paul Martin
Simon Despres - Kris Letang
Deryk Engelland - Ben Lovejoy
--Matt Niskanen will be out for 2-4 weeks with a lower-body injury.

Matt Niskanen Out, Simon Despres In?

From a report at the Penguins morning gameday skate from the PG's Shelly Anderson:

Everyone other than D Matt Niskanen on the ice for #Penguins morning skate at CEC....Simon Despres seems to be getting a lot of reps with Kris Letang at #Penguins morning skate.

It looks like Niskanen will be out for tonight's game. Niskanen was injured taking a nasty spill legs first into the boards in the first period of last game versus Ottawa. He did not return and was said to have a "lower body injury". There were no updates yesterday, when the Penguins had the day off. Dan Bylsma may speak to Niskanen's condition later on today, but in true NHL fashion, his leg could be hanging by a strand and he'd probably be considered "day-to-day".

Depres has been a healthy scratch the past two games, the Penguins also have defenseman Robert Bortuzzo, who has been a healthy scratch all season on the roster. One of those two (like Despres) would join Kris Letang, Brooks Orpik, Paul Martin, Deryk Engelland and Ben Lovejoy as the defensemen in the lineup for tonight's game.

Lighthouse Hockey Q&A

We check in with the excellent NYI blog, Lighthouse Hockey, to find out the latest and what to expect for tonight's game.

1 How's ex-Penguin Brian Strait been playing? His boxcar numbers are predicatably plain (0g, 0a, 0p, 0 PIMs, -1, 4 SOG) but he's averaged 17:50, 4th amongst NYI defensemen.

Strait's been as you'd expect. For the most part, they've paired him with Mark Streit and he's steady, certainly not the worst partner Streit has had with the Islanders. But minutes-wise he's still way behind Travis Hamonic, Andrew MacDonald and his near-homonym Strait. Decent depth pickup for the Isles though, much preferred to Joe Finley from their preseason waiver-wire binge.

#2 Through five games the Isles are 2-2-1, with 18 goals for and 18 goals against. Seems pretty even, how would you describe how the team has played early in this season?

Like a .500 team, really. They haven't tossed up any absolute stinkers, they haven't blown anyone out, they've held onto some leads and blown some others. Definitely early and still getting a feel for how they're doing and if their approach has changed at all since last season. Their stars are still their stars and they may have improved their blueline overall, but that's coming off one that featured nightly inconsistencies from Mike Mottau, Steve Staios, Mark Eaton and Milan Jurcina. Evgeni Nabokov has been pretty big so far.

#3 Outside of the first line, the Islanders have gotten some scoring so far this year. Name a player Pens fans should lookout for (outside of the norm of Tavares, Moulson, Okposo, Grabner) that may be able to chip in with a couple points.

Honestly, it might be Keith Aucoin or David Ullstrom. Despite his limited NHL experience, most probably know of Aucoin but so far this looks like a nice role for him as a secondary scorer on a line with the hard-working Ullstrom. They're the kind of players that don't catch opposing fans' eyes often, but when they do it's because they just made a nifty play that provided the difference.

Gameday 6: Pens Host the Islanders

The Pittsburgh Penguins have their second home game on Tuesday when they welcome the New York Islanders.