Pittsburgh Penguins Tie Up The Series Before Heading To Enemy Territory

Seymon Varlamov returned to the Islanders lineup with Pittsburgh’s Evgeni Malkin remained out. The series is now tied at 1 after the Pittsburgh Penguins held the New York Islanders to a 2-1 game. It was quite the chippy game with excellent commentary provided by Brandon Tanev. You can always count on him for those one liners. Back to hockey. 

Pittsburgh outplayed the Islanders on Sunday but managed to lose in overtime. Tonight was a different story. They came out of the gate scoring their only two goals in the first period. Bryan Rust had his first of the postseason completely unassisted. Trade deadline acquisition, Jeff Carter scored about ten minutes later, making the Los Angelos Kings wonder, why would any team ever trade Jeff Carter? 

Pittsburgh’s offense was silenced the remainder of the night. Varmalov had 42 saves on 44 shots in his return. Tristan Jarry had quite the game himself, allowing just one goal on 36 shots. His glove might have been his best friend tonight. Can we award it a star? The Penguins would win 52% of the faceoffs and outshoot the Isles, 45-38. The Islanders dominated the game with 46 hits and 16 blocks. There was a scary moment where Brian Dumoulin was thrown into the boards by Jean-Gabriel Pageue and had to leave the game. He would return to the bench but you absolutely hate to see plays like that. Thankfully, Tanex was there to lighten the mood with a few choice words for the Islanders. 

The two face off again on Thursday back on Long Island. Tonight’s win was crucial for the Penguins as they looked to avoid being down two before heading into enemy territory.

The key factors to this series is both teams need to shoot. They can’t hesitate and overthink their movements. Goaltending has to stay steady for Pittsburgh as they head to Long Island. Jarry seemed a bit more secure in himself this evening and you need that to continue. The Islanders desperately need their offense to come alive. Mat Barzal’s magic appears to be dimmed at the moment with 0 points through two games. Will home ice change that?