After a slow start, the Pittsburgh Penguins are beginning to hit their stride. Pittsburgh is now 7-2-2 heading into Thursday night's home tilt against the New York Islanders. Yes, the same Islanders team that Pittsburgh played and defeated on Tuesday, as the two teams get set for the second game of a rare regular season home-home series.
Pittsburgh shutout the Islanders on Tuesday night, 3-0, thanks to a brilliant outing by Marc-Andre Fleury. The Pens goalie successfully stopped all 33 shots the Islanders had on goal in the win for his ninth win in 11 starts in net. The return of former Conn Smythe Trophy winner Evgeni Malkin on Tuesday was just his fourth start of the season. He's expected to start again Thursday night as the Pens look to extend their winning streak to five. The winning streak has helped mask the concerns on the injury front. The latest Pens player to go down was Zbynek Michalek, one of the team's top defensemen.