In the second day of a home-and-home battle with the New York Islanders (14-6-0, 28 points), the Pittsburgh Penguins (13-4-2, 28 points) fell 4-1 at Nassau Memorial Coliseum on Saturday evening, creating a tie between the Metropolitan Division’s top two teams.
After falling Friday in a shootout, the Penguins struck first with a goal by Evgeni Malkin to take a 1-0 lead with just over three minutes remaining in the first period. It was his eighth of the season and was assisted by Patric Hornqvist (13) and Nick Spaling (4). New York answered with one in the second to tie the game as Matt Martin netted his second of the season with two minutes remaining in the middle period.
The final period belonged to the home team as the Islanders skated away with a second straight victory over Pittsburgh and an eighth win in nine games. Anders Lee’s third goal of the season came less than three minutes into the third, giving New York a 2-1 lead they would not relinquish. Brock Nelson scored later on a power play and John Tavares added another late to seal the win. Tavares was the only player in the game to record multiple points, notching the goal and as assist on the Nelson power play goal.
New York outshot the Penguins 35-28, allowed only one power play opportunity all night to the league’s top PP unit and killed it rather easily. The Islanders also won the faceoffs battle (36-23). Pittsburgh came out on top in really just one dubious category: penalty minutes. Steve Downie contributed well to that effort, getting five for fighting early with Travis Hamonic and a ten-minute misconduct in the third that effectively ended his night. Zach Sill and Hamonic fought in the third, also earning misconducts.
Thomas Greiss made 31 saves on 35 shots faced, taking the loss and falling to 2-1-1 on the season. In net for the Islanders was Jaroslav Halak, who improved to 9-4-0 after a 27-save performance.
Pittsburgh will now head north up the Atlantic coast to Boston to battle the Bruins (13-8-0, 26 points) on Monday evening before returning home to Consol Energy Center for a two-game set against Toronto and Carolina.
