Onto steel city

Coming off an impressive team victory, the New York Islanders head into Pittsburgh to take on the defending cup champions tonight.

Rick DiPietro will not get the start tonight despite having a decent game while earning a shut out yesterday.  Head coach Scott Gordon will turn to the teams number one netminder and current team MVP Dwayne Roloson.

As we all know, the 40 year old Roloson brings a key element to this team – competitiveness. At 40, he still plays as if he was in his twenties. A gift not many atheletes can posses. You can argue some names (i.e. – Lidstrom, Chelios, Kovalev, etc) however, for a goalie Roloson deserves much more credit.  Especially considering what he has done this season for the Islanders.

Yesterday’s victory was a moral win for the entire team. The momentum built must carry over into tonight’s contest against the Penguins. Although they are going through a rough patch and are injury riddled, they still posses a cast of skaters that can dominate a game from start to finish.

The Penguins roll three scoring lines which must be accounted for. The defensive approach and forechecking system that Gordon has implemented proved its true value yesterday. There should be no reason to escape that mold.

The young, heart filled, hungry Islanders team can seriously put themselves on the map tonight. The playoff map that is. Yes, currently a playoff seeded team, yet still much to prove. A true test of character, as well as determination can be one way to view tonight’s game.

Tonight’s line up (subject to change):

Josh Bailey – John Tavares – Kyle Okposo
Matt Moulson – Frans Neilsen - Trent  Hunter
Blake Comeau – Robbie Schremp – Jon Sim
Sean Bergenheim – Dough Weight – Richard Park

Mark Streit -  Andy Sutton
Jack Hillen – Bruno Gervais
Freddie Meyer – Andy MacDonald

Dwayne Roloson

No matter how you choose to observe tonights tilt with the Penguins, keep an open mind. For the boys in blue, orange and white, energy and discipline can easily create two points in the standings.

Players are heating up.  Ever since being snubbed to participate for Team USA at this years upcoming Olympic games in Vancouver, Kyle Okposo has been red hot.  As of today, he leads the team in points with 33 (10G 23A).

Matt Moulson registered his team leading 18th and 19th goals of the season and has found chemistry playing on the second line with Nielsen and Hunter.

Josh Bailey is having a terrific season and Frans Nielsen has turned into a terrific two way center for the organization.

The defensive pairings all contribute simply by doing their jobs. The shut down skaters have a role and a style, and they play the game accordingly.

Mark Streits 28 points (7G 21A) has him fourth on the team in scoring. If there were to be an All-Star game this season, it would be hard to look over his name as a selection.

Every single skater up and down the roster have done their jobs. At the same time, they are having fun.  As if you didn’t know that from the wide smile that was shown from Rick DiPietro yesterday after the game was over.

The biggest key for this team is just that: to have fun.