The Pens play the Islanders in New York tonight in what should be a relatively easy matchup. The Islanders are one of the worst teams in the NHL, with a record of 9-19-6 and 36 more goals allowed than they've scored. They also just traded their best defenseman, James Wisniewski, to the Montreal Canadiens for draft picks, further weakening what had already been a very weak team.
For the Penguins, Sidney Crosby will attempt to stretch his points scoring streak to 26 games. He has 62 points in 32 games against the Islanders in his lifetime, so that might not be such a tall order. Then again, scoring points in the NHL is always tricky and shouldn't be taken for granted - his matchup the other night against the Senators looked like a pretty easy one too, but Crosby didn't score in that game until the last four minutes.
The Penguins, with 52 points, will try to maintain their points lead on the rest of the Eastern Conference. Their next game comes against the Capitals in the Winter Classic on New Year's Day.