|
 But an actual playoff rematch between the two newly minted rivals
became a bit less unlikely Thursday night, when the Penguins came
back from an early two-goal deficit by scoring four unanswered goals
in the first and second period before hanging on for a 6-4 win over
the Islanders in front of an energized, near-sellout crowd of 15,012
at Nassau Coliseum.
Dating back to Game Two of the quarterfinals in May, seven of the
last nine games between the Penguins and Islanders have been decided
by one goal — and Thursday's game would have been a one-goal
affair, too, if not for an empty net goal by Penguins center Brandon
Sutter with 3.3 seconds left.
"I feel like we've had a lot of games that ended up in shootouts or
overtimes, especially in this building," Penguins center Sidney
Crosby said.
The Penguins won Games Three and Six in overtime at Nassau Coliseum
last spring and Crosby's overtime goal lifted the Penguins to a 3-2
win at the Coliseum on Dec. 3.
The win Thursday was eerily similar to Game Three on May 5, when the
Penguins fell behind 2-0 in the first period, scored four unanswered
goals and then survived a two-goal Islanders comeback in the third
to win in the overtime.
"It doesn't really seem to matter — lineups, people, who's on the
ice, goaltenders, locale — there seems to be some erratic and crazy
things that seem to happen," Penguins coach Dan Bylsma said.
"Tonight's start was reminiscent of Game Three here in the playoffs.
A lot of that seems to keep coming up. It always seems to be a tight
one at the end."
The Penguins' win Thursday marked the seventh time in the last nine
Pittsburgh-New York games that the winner has come back from a
one-or two-goal deficit. The Penguins are 5-3 in those games.
"I feel like we've had a ton (of games) that have been really tight — I think that's just kind of the nature of the two teams," said
Crosby, who had a goal and two assists Thursday. "I would say it's
developing into those kind of games consistently."
While the Penguins (36-13-2) continued cruising toward the top seed
in the Eastern Conference — Pittsburgh has a nine-point lead over
Atlantic Division leader Boston — the Islanders' uphill climb
toward the eighth playoff spot got even more challenging with the
loss.
The Islanders (21-25-7) went 2-13-2 from Nov. 5 through Dec. 9 to
all but fall out of playoff contention, but have gone 12-6-0 since
Dec. 20. But the loss Thursday, coupled with Columbus' 5-2 win over
Philadelphia, dropped the Islanders nine points behind the Blue
Jackets for the final wild-card spot.
[to top of second column] |
The loss was the eighth this season in which the Islanders
have blown a two-goal lead. After center Brock Nelson gave the
Islanders a 2-0 lead, the Penguins needed just 3:03 to tie it on
goals by left winger Chris Kunitz and Crosby.
"You can't give Kunitz and Crosby and Malkin and (left winger
James) Neal and (defenseman Kris) Letang — the list goes on — time and space, because they're going to make plays," Islanders
coach Jack Capuano said. "They're a high-powered team."
Penguins defensemen Olli Maatta and Letang scored in the second
as Pittsburgh took a 4-2 lead. The Islanders got within a goal
twice in the third period on scores by center Josh Bailey and
left winger Kyle Okposo, but Penguins center Evgeni Malkin
answered Bailey's goal with one of his own less than three
minutes later and goaltender Jeff Zatkoff (30 saves) made five
power play saves later in the third — including two on a 5-on-3
power play with about seven minutes left — to preserve the lead
until Sutter's empty netter iced it.
"It just kind of comes down to who's going to execute their game
the best," Crosby said. "We saw tonight some more goals than
probably both teams would like. But at the end of the day,
you've got to find a way to win those sometimes."
Goaltender Kevin Poulin recorded 23 saves for the Islanders.
NOTES: The end date for the Islanders' Nassau Coliseum tenure
was confirmed Thursday when Newsday reported the team would play
out the final season of their lease at the Coliseum in 2014-15
before leaving for Brooklyn and the Barclays Center for the
start of the 2015-16 season. The Islanders, who announced in
October 2012 that they would move to Brooklyn no later than
2015, reportedly pondered the idea of exiting the Coliseum for
Brooklyn at the end of this season. ... The Islanders had
healthy scratches in LW Eric Boulton and D Matt Carkner. The
third scratch, D Travis Hamonic, missed his sixth straight game
with concussion symptoms. ... Penguins C Andrew Ebbett, who was
activated off injured reserve after missing 20 games with a
broken ankle, and D Robert Bortuzzo were healthy scratches. ...
Before the game, the Penguins assigned C Zach Sill to
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, their affiliate in the AHL.
[© 2014 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2014 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |
