Expert Top Pick of the Day: Pittsburgh Penguins vs New York Islanders

Penguins vs Islanders: The Pittsburgh Penguins travel to face the New York Islanders Tuesday night. Pittsburgh hopes to stop the Islanders, chasing their second straight home win.

The Penguins and Islanders battle in a Metropolitan Division clash tonight. This is the first meeting between these two teams as the 19-9-5 Penguins try to improve their 9-6-2 road record.

Pittsburgh is 1-1-1 in the last three games since winning six in a row and trails the New Jersey Devils by seven points in the standings. The Penguins dropped their previous game at home on Thursday to the Carolina Hurricanes 4-3 in overtime.

The Islanders have had a major slump since their most recent four-game winning streak. New York is 4-4-2 in its last ten games and has fallen to sixth place in the division standings with 40 points. However, they’re 10-6-0 at home but have dropped three of the last four games at UBS Arena.

Pittsburgh Penguins vs. New York Islanders Schedule

• Date: Tuesday, December 27, 2022
• Time: 07:35 PM EST
• Location: UBS Arena, Elmont, NY
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Pens Seek Seventh Win In Last Eight Road Games

Pittsburgh has only lost to one team in the last 11 games. All three previous losses have come against the Hurricanes by one goal. Besides that, the Penguins have beaten all of their previous 13 opponents.

Pittsburgh is currently the seventh-best offense in the league with 3.42 goals per game and is tied for the top with an 84.8% penalty kill percentage.

Sidney Crosby has been having an excellent season for Pittsburgh and is eighth in the league in scoring with 43 points on 19 goals and 24 assists.

Jake Guentzel is second on the team with 15 goals, and Evgeni Malkin adds 22 assists. Tristan Jarry is 15-3-4 with a 2.67 GAA and is ninth in the NHL with a .920 save percentage.

Islanders Hope For Consecutive Wins

New York has not had two straight wins in more than a month leading up to tonight’s game. Since a stretch where the Islanders won 13 of 17 games, New York has won just four of the next 12 contests and lost four out of five on their recent road trip. A victory tonight would be their second straight at home.

Brock Nelson is the points leader for New York with 34 and leads the team in goals with 15. Mathew Barzal is second on the team in scoring with 33 points and is first in assists with 28, which is seventh in the NHL. Ilya Sorkin is 11-11-1 on the season with a 2.37 goals-against average, and a .925 save percentage.

Pittsburgh Penguins vs. New York Islanders Odds Comparison

The Penguins are 8-2-0 in their last ten games and are 6-1-0 in their previous seven games on the road. The total has gone over in six of the last nine games for the Islanders, and the total has gone over in eight of the previous 11 games at home against Pittsburgh.

• DraftKings has the Penguins at -125, and the total is 6.
• FanDuel has the Penguins at -126, and the total is 5.
• Caesars has the Penguins at -130, and the total is 5.5.

Godds Pick or Prediction of the Game

The Islanders are 15th in the league, scoring 3.20 goals per game. However, they’re eighth in the league in goals-against per game at 2.74.

Pittsburgh is glad they only have to face Carolina once more in the regular season and now can resume their recent domination on the road against a struggling New York team.

• Godds Pick/Prediction: The Penguins win, and the total goes over.