NEW YORK -- This spring, the Penguins will attempt to do something no team has done since Mike Bossy, Denis Potvin, Bryan Trottier and the legendary Islanders of the early 1980s: Win three straight Stanley Cups.
But before that ultimate goal, they can do something even rarer: Sweep a season series from these guys.
Not that it will make up for 1975 or 1982 or David Volek, but it's never happened in the 45 years these teams have been meeting, though they have come close. The Penguins went 4-0-1 vs. New York in the Islanders' inaugural season of 1972-73. They went 4-0-4 in 2006-07 and 5-0-1 in 2008-09.
Entering tonight, the Penguins are 3-0 against the Islanders this season, winning by a combined score of 11-5, with two of those in overtime, including the last meeting, a 3-2 win at PPG Paints Arena March 3, when Sidney Crosby scored the game-winner:
1. Welcome back, welcome back, welcome back.
Matt Murray likely will see his first game action since Feb. 24, when he came on in relief for Tristan Jarry against the Panthers in South Florida. Murray was hit with the loss after giving up two goals on 14 shots in 30:27. That ended a run in which Murray had been playing his finest hockey of the season, going 9-0-1 prior to that.
Sadly, these comeback games have become commonplace for Murray this season, but he fared well in the first two: Dec. 14, following a two-week absence due to a knee injury, Murray stopped 24 of 26 shots in a 2-1 loss to former mentor Marc-Andre Fleury and the Golden Knights in Las Vegas. Jan. 30, following a nearly month-long personal leave of absence following the death of his father, Murray pushed the emotion aside to stop 40 of 42 shots -- including this save on Mikkel Boedker -- in a 5-2 win over the Sharks at PPG:
2. Beware Mathew Barzal.
Not that it bears much repeating, but the Islanders' rookie is good. Calder Trophy-lock good. He has a goal and four assists in the past five games, including a goal and assist in the most recent one, a 6-3 loss in Washington. With 73 points, Barzal has an insurmountable 18-point lead over injured Canucks forward Brock Boeser for the rookie scoring title.
Barzal is a dynamic, playmaking center, whose 54 assists are tied with Crosby for ninth in the NHL. Barzal's favorite target is captain John Tavares, who is second on the Islanders and 11th in the league with 32 goals.
Between Tavares and Anders Lee (35 goals) the Islanders are the only team with two players in the top 11 in goals.
3. Shoot the puck!
The Penguins are capable of putting up a lot of shots and scoring on them. They're tied for first at 34.4 shots per game and are sixth at 3.26 goals per game.
Conversely, the Islanders give up the most shots (35.7 per game) and the most goals (3.60). Predictably, they have a minus-31 goal differential, are in last place in the Metro and will miss the playoffs for the second straight year and third time in five years.
But you could have fooled the Penguins in their previous meeting. They dominated possession 61 to 39 percent at even strength, and still needed 50 shots and overtime to foil Christopher Gibson, who was making his first NHL appearance in nearly two years.
Gibson was good that night, but not that good. The Penguins were limited to the perimeter and didn't do a very good job of driving to the net. Do that, and the they should win a lot more comfortably tonight.
