Game 4 Preview: Pittsburgh Penguins @ New York Islanders

Who: Pittsburgh Penguins (2-1) @ New York Islanders (1-2)

When: 3:00 p.m. eastern

How to Watch: NBC

Opponent Track: The Islanders will be looking to bounce back from two straight losses. And the perhaps unspoken pressure for fans and players and the organization alike is that Game 4 could be in final game ever in the Nassau Coliseum, the home of the team since 1972.

Pens path ahead: Game 5 is in Pittsburgh on Monday. Game 6, if necessary, would be back on Long Island on Wednesday. A Game 7 is scheduled, if needed for next Friday 5/28.

SBN Team Counterpart: Check out Lighthouse Hockey for the latest news to know about the Islanders.

Game 2 Lines

FORWARDS

Leo Komarov - Mathew Barzal - Jordan Eberle

Anthony Beauvillier - Brock Nelson - Josh Bailey

Kyle Palmieri - Jean-Gabriel Pageau - Oliver Wahlstrom

Cal Clutterbuck - Casey Cizikas - Matt Martin

DEFENSEMEN

Adam Pelech / Ryan Pulock

Nick Leddy / Scott Mayfield

Andy Greene / Noah Dobson

Possible Starting goalie: Semyon Varlamov

Scratches: Ross Johnston, Anatoly Golyshev, Simon Holmstrom, Kieffer Bellows, Otto Koivula, Austin Czarnik, Michael Del Colle, Cole Bardeau, Dmytro Timashev, Braydon Coburn, Samuel Bolduc, Bode Wilde, Grant Hutton, Sebastian Aho, Ken Appleby, Cory Schneider

IR: Anders Lee, Johnny Boychuk

—The Islanders stuck with the same lines and pairings that they have been using all along for the first three games of the series. It doesn’t look like Barry Trotz is going to any changes or looking for external moves after two straight one-goal loses, he is challenging his current players to up their roles and execution

—Here’s an interesting tidbit, Nick Leddy was involved in the 10 player minor penalty fiasco on Thursday. It was his first penalty minutes in 51 playoff games with the Islanders, stretching now five playoff seasons.

And now for the Pens..

Game 2 lines

Forwards

Jake Guentzel - Sidney Crosby - Bryan Rust

Jason Zucker- Evgeni Malkin - Kasperi Kapanen

Jared McCann - Jeff Carter - Frederick Gaudreau

Zach Aston-Reese - Teddy Blueger - Brandon Tanev

Defense

Brian Dumoulin / Kris Letang

Mike Matheson / Cody Ceci

Marcus Pettersson / John Marino

Starting goalie: Tristan Jarry

Scratches: Evan Rodrigues Colton Sceviour, Sam Lafferty, Radim Zohorna, Mark Jankowski, Juuso Riikola, Chad Ruhwedel, Mark Friedman, Yannick Weber, Casey DeSmith

—The Penguins had a practice yesterday, and like the Islanders, they used the exact same lines as they did for Game 3 and had full attendance.

Charting history

From the Penguins PR department:

The Penguins have an all-time series record of 18-7 in best-of-seven playoff series when entering Game 4 with a 2-1 series lead. In those series where Pittsburgh has home-ice advantage, they are 13-5.

Letang to tie Jagr

Kris Letang gets into a chapter of franchise history today. He’ll tie Jaromir Jagr with 140 career playoff games with the Pens.

When defenseman Kris Letang steps onto the ice tomorrow, he’ll be appearing in his 140th game with Pittsburgh, tying Jaromir Jagr for the third-most playoff games played in franchise history.

Player GP

Sidney Crosby 171
Evgeni Malkin 167
Jaromir Jagr 140
Kris Letang 139*
Chris Kunitz 126

*Entering today’s game

Mario Lemieux, if you were curious, has 107 career playoff games.