Penguins, Fleury Shut Out Islanders, 1-0

2 points is 2 points ....

That's true whether you're playing the Detroit Red Wings or the New York Islanders. They all count the same.

And so it was for the Penguins last night at Mellon Arena, where they picked up 2 key points in a 1-0 whitewashing of the New York Islanders.

With the victory, the Penguins moved to within 2 points of the 7th and 8th place Florida Panthers and Buffalo Sabres, respectively. The Pens' still sit in 10th, with the Carolina Hurricanes sitting one point better. The Penguins are also only 4 points behind the 6th place New York Rangers and 5 points behind the 5th place Montreal Canadiens.

All of those teams bear watching down the stretch.

Petr Sykora scored the Penguins only goal with just minues left by punching in a rebound past Islanders' netminder Yann Danis, who played fairly well, finishing with 27 saves on 28 shots.

Fleury, on the other hand, didn't face many -- only 21 -- but stopped them all.

The Penguins carried the better part of the play in this one for most of the game. They were especially good in the first and third periods. In the first, New York had only 6 shots. In the final frame, they had only 4.

The Penguins now begin a 5 game road trip starting on Friday which will take them from Chicago to Dallas to Tampa Bay to Florida to Washington. How they look at the end of this trip could possibly shape their season. They won't have easy matchups in any of these contests, and the games against Florida and Washington to close out the swing will be particularly meaningful.

In a way, I'm glad the game against the Capitals is at the end. It will help give the Penguins a reason to play when they might otherwise be hitting the wall.

NOTES:

Sidney Crosby missed the game last night because of the groin injury that has crept up on him and first pulled him out of practice on Tuesday.

Defenseman Ryan Whitney also didn't play, and was said to be back home in Boston attending to "family matters". Kris Letang returned to the lineup and took Whitney's spot.

Janne Pesonen was called up from Wilkes-Barre before the game, but did not dress. Coach Dan Bylmsa decided to play forward Bill Thomas instead.