When the puck drops for Game 1 between the Penguins and Islanders at 12:25 this afternoon, it'll be the first meeting between the two teams since March 29 at PPG Paints Arena.
Both teams look a little different since that last meeting.
The Penguins have since added Jeff Carter, a move that's paid off extremely well so far, with Carter scoring nine goals and two assists in his 14 games with the Penguins since the trade.
The Islanders made a bigger splash leading up to the trade deadline, sending a first-round pick, a conditional fourth-round pick, A.J. Greer and Mason Jobst to the Devils for forwards Kyle Palmieri and Travis Zajac.
That move hasn't worked out nearly as well, and the Islanders paid a much steeper price than the two conditional picks the Penguins sent to the Kings for Carter.
Zajac has one goal and one assist in 13 games since the trade, and Palmieri has two goals and two assists in 17 games.
Since the deadline, the Penguins have gone 10-3-1 and moved from third place to first place in the East Division. The Islanders struggled, going 5-6-3 and falling to fourth place after being tied with the Capitals for first at the deadline.
In the Islanders' practice on Saturday, Zajac was out of the regular rushes completely, skating as an extra forward. Palmieri skated on the left side of the third line and worked with the second power play unit.
When we had Islanders broadcaster and four-time Stanley Cup champion Butch Goring on our 66 to 87 podcast earlier this week, I asked what hasn't worked out for the Islanders' two additions.
"This has been a question that's come up quite a bit over the last couple of weeks," Goring said. "You look statistically at both guys, Zajac and Palmieri, and you can't say they've been scoring, because they haven't. But the truth of the matter is, that the Islanders over their last 10 or 12 games, haven't played well as a team. If you look at the scoring, they haven't been scoring as a team. You can't just say, well, Palmieri and Zajac haven't been scoring because you could say the same thing about Brock Nelson, or Mat Barzal, Josh Bailey. The list just goes on and on."
Goring went on to contrast the Islanders' acquisitions with the Penguins' acquisition of Carter, saying that Palmieri and Zajac came in to a team that wasn't at its best, and Carter joined a hot Penguins team.
"They have not played well, except for the last couple of games," he said. "They played great against the Rangers, they played Islander hockey against the Rangers. They had a terrific finish with the Boston Bruins, it was a playoff game. It was physical, it was exactly what you expect from those two teams. The truth of the matter is that the Islanders didn't support their new players anywhere as near as they should have. It's not really a fair comparison. Pittsburgh was playing great hockey, scoring a lot of goals, and Carter was able to contribute offensively."
I asked Mike Sullivan earlier this week how the Islanders have changed with the additions since the two last met.
He thinks that while Palmieri and Zajac of course add some depth to the Islanders' forward lineup, it doesn't change much about what they're expecting to see from the Islanders for the first-round matchup.
"I just think they're deeper," he said. "They have more really good players. They play the same style, they have the same identity, that hasn't changed. They just have a deeper lineup. We know what kind of game they're going to play, and we know how we have to play to give ourselves the best chance to be successful. We know it's going to be a tough challenge. We understand what's in store. The Islanders have played to a certain identity for a number of years now that has brought them success. Regardless of who is in their lineup, that hasn't changed. That's been my experience playing against them the last couple of years."
