Islanders vs Penguins Game 52, Didn't we just see these guys?

Well here we go again, seems like we did this recently... Oh yeah last Tuesday. So before I said that Fleury needed to be the guy to stonewall the Islanders and he definitely came out and earned that 5million a year paycheck during the 0-1 shutout he posted against them. Tonight that chore falls on Brent Johnson but after his last performance hopefully he comes out and has something to prove.

Penguins injury woes continue as they are now without Aaron Asham who has suffered an injury to his upper body after last nights first period. Letestu is having an MRI done today to see how severe his problem is, he was rumored to be on crutches so hopefully it's just a precautionary thing. Malkin will also not be in the lineup tonight, however he has practiced the past two days including a practice today with Bylsma, Kennedy, Lovejoy and Eric Tangradi.Sidney Crosby will be missing his 12th (including ASG) consecutive game. Here is hoping Sid's scoring streak stays longer than his missed games.

This is the back end of another back to back series of games, the 10th of such series so far this year. In that time the Penguins are 6-1-2 on the 2nd game, 13-4-2 overall. The Penguins are 6-3-1 in the last 10 games. Tonights game will be a good game to see Tangradi and Jeffrey on the same ice again, only this time in an NHL game together. Jeffrey has been the golden ticket as of late winning key face offs to set up scoring chances, calling his own number for a slapshot or posting the game winning shot in a 7 round shootout. The kid has moxie and he's taking it out on his opponents.

No projected lines for tonight as far as I know, you can expect something like this:

Chris Kunitz - Dustin Jeffrey- Pascal Dupuis
Matt Cooke - Jordan Staal - Tyler Kennedy
Eric Tangradi - Max Talbot - Chris Conner
Mike Rupp - Craig Adams - Eric Godard

Brooks Orpik - Kris Letang
Paul Martin - Zbynek Michalek
Alex Goligoski - Deryk Engelland


Big Brent Johnson will be in goal for the Penguins.

Love those pads.

After an assist in last nights game, Maxim Talbot is one point away from 100 career points. You could tell in the past two games he has been hungry to get a puck on net. Mighty Max has been mighty silent in most of the games this year, leading some (and me) to speculate on him playing himself out the door. Hopefully that isn't the case as he adds a lot to a team that needs all the support from the bench it can get right now.

I don't know what it is, but you gotta love him.