Penguins collapse in another loss to Islanders
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In the first half-century of the rivalry between the teams, there’s never been a deficit of heartbreak for the Pittsburgh Penguins against the New York Islanders.
There has been a comeback from a three-game deficit in a best-of-seven playoff series in 1972, a bitterly narrow defeat in a best-of-five first-round matchup in 1982 and one of the largest upsets in the history of the NHL during a best-of-seven second-round encounter in 1993.
Even a four-game sweep in the first round of the 2019 postseason.
But never a regular season series sweep.
Until Thursday.
A breakaway overtime goal by forward Brock Nelson gave the Islanders a rousing 4-3 comeback victory against the Penguins at PPG Paints Arena, securing a sweep of all four games during the 2022-23 regular season.
The result was achieved despite the Penguins holding a two-goal advantage entering the third period after two fairly commanding periods in terms of puck possession.
Regardless, it was one of the team’s worst defeats of the season (which already has a lengthy catalog of such outcomes).
“It’s tough to swallow,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said. “It stings. I feel badly for the players because I thought for the majority of the night, we were the better team. We had some momentary lapses in the third (and) they get back in the game.”
The Penguins seemed to have things under control after 40 minutes as they held a 3-1 lead on the scoreboard and even controlled puck possession by nearly a two-to-one margin with 24 shots to the Islanders’ 13.
Then, the third period happened.
To be precise, the final 5:29 of regulation happened.
The Islanders scored twice in the final stages of the third frame and somehow got what appeared to be a sure defeat to overtime.
“They played a full 65 (minutes),” said Penguins goaltender Tristan Jarry, who stopped 24 of 28 shots and saw his record slip to 19-7-6. “We were able to push the first and second periods. I think just a little bit of puck management (issues) in the third period. Obviously, there’s a couple of bounces that went their way.”
Beyond the historical footnote of being swept by the Islanders for the first time in regular season competition, there is the more immediate concern of the Eastern Conference wild-card standings.
The Islanders increased their lead for the top wild-card position with a 34-25-8 record and 76 points. The Penguins remain in the second slot at 32-22-10 and 74 points.
“All of this is frustrating,” Penguins forward Rickard Rakell said. “We felt like we definitely outplayed them in the games we played against them this year, but we haven’t gotten the result that we wanted.”
A power-play goal by forward Anders Lee – his 25th score of the season – 5:23 into regulation put the Islanders on the scoreboard first.
Off a slick backhand tap pass by Islanders forward Kyle Palmieri from the right half wall of the offensive zone, linemate Bo Horvat ripped a wrister from the right circle that Jarry rejected with his midsection. The rebound bounced to the right of the cage, where Horvat claimed possession and flicked a forehand pass to the front of the slot. After the puck glanced off of the stick of backchecking Penguins forward Mikael Granlund, Lee jabbed it with a forehand shot past the right hip of a scrambling Jarry. Horvat and Palmieri had assists.
Penguins forward Jake Guentzel’s 26th goal tied the game at 11:07 of the first period.
Chasing down a loose puck in the left corner of the offensive zone, Guentzel chopped the stick of Islanders defenseman Alexander Romanov to claim possession and fed a pass to linemate Sidney Crosby on the near half wall. After Crosby offloaded the puck to the left point, Penguins defenseman Marcus Pettersson chucked a wrister toward the cage. Guentzel, just below the left hashmarks, deflected the puck with the heel of his stick, causing it to bounce off the ice and past goaltender Ilya Sorokin’s right skate. Assists went to Pettersson and Crosby.
The Penguins took their first lead late in the opening period at the 18:24 mark thanks to forward Jason Zucker’s 22nd goal.
Overwhelming Islanders defenseman Adam Pelech for a puck in the right corner of New York’s zone, Penguins forward Evgeni Malkin cruised behind the net and slipped a clever pass to the slot, where Zucker gripped and ripped a wrister through Sorokin’s five hole. Malkin and defenseman Jeff Petry tallied assists.
An unlikely source provided the Penguins with their third goal at 10:49 of the second.
Digging a puck off the Islanders end boards, Penguins forward Nick Bonino dished a pass to the right point for Petry, who faked a slapper and then fed the puck to defensive partner Brian Dumoulin at the left point. Surveying for a shooting lane, Dumoulin pumped a wrister toward the cage that glanced off the right glove of Penguins forward Josh Archibald and hit off the near post before finding twine. Archibald was credited with his fifth goal off assists from Dumoulin and Petry.
Islanders coach Lane Lambert appeared to question the legality of the goal — in addition to Archibald potentially intentionally directing the puck in with his hand, it also may have briefly entered the Islanders bench through an open door earlier in the sequence — but those protests did not progress to the point of a coach’s challenge or video review.
The Islanders had two power-play opportunities in the third period but were unable to convert either. That forced them to rely on good, old-fashioned five-on-five scoring to tie the game late.
Forward Hudson Fasching made it a 3-2 contest at 14:32 of the third frame with his fifth goal.
Taking the puck in deep on the left wing of the offensive zone, Islanders forward Casey Cizikas snapped a pass to the slot. Fasching surged past Granlund, newly installed as the Penguins’ third-line center, and kicked the puck forward with his right skate then jabbed a forehand shot between Jarry’s left skate and the right post. Cizikas and defenseman Sebastian Aho claimed assists.
The Penguins seemed to be in a position to fend off the Islanders’ late salvos when forward Jeff Carter had a chance to score on an empty net — Sorokin was pulled for an extra attacker — but a somewhat confusing scene halted play at the 18:32 mark when it was ruled Carter deflected the puck out of the defensive zone with a high stick.
Carter seemingly was aware play would be halted but fired a shot off the Islanders’ end boards to the anguished cries of the home crowd.
That led to a faceoff in the Penguins’ left circle that segued to the tying goal by Lee only 13 seconds later.
After Horvat beat Crosby on a draw in the Penguins’ left circle, Aho and Nelson dished the puck back and forth between the center point and right wing before Nelson moved it to Islanders defenseman Noah Dobson, stationed on the left wall. From there, Dobson fired a shot/pass to the front of the crease. Facing minimal resistance, Lee created a nifty deflection through Jarry’s five hole. Dobson and Nelson had assists.
In overtime, the Islanders took advantage of an offensive zone turnover by the Penguins to claim victory at the 2:13 mark.
From behind the Islanders’ net, Rakell attempted a pass to the left circle for Pettersson, but a swinging poke check by Sorokin broke up the sequence, causing the puck to hit off the left wing boards and deflect to the neutral zone.
Nelson chased down the puck and generated a breakaway, charbroiling Jarry’s blocker with a wrister for his 28th goal of the season.
Rakell accepted responsibility for the turnover.
“I got it behind the net and I thought I had (Pettersson) wide open,” Rakell said. “Their goalie put his stick out and gave them a breakaway, basically. If it goes to (Pettersson), it’s probably game over for us. But it went the other way and their guy scored.”
The Penguins had so much going their way Thursday, but it was all for naught as they were marooned and swept away by the Islanders.
“Our compete level was extremely high,” Sullivan said. “Our intent was in the right place.
“That’s why a loss like this stings.”
Notes:
• Malkin took a hooking penalty against Islanders forward Pierre Engvall at 4:44 of the first period and became the franchise’s career leader in penalty minutes with 1,050. He previously shared the mark (1,048) with former All-Star forward Kevin Stevens.
• The Penguins have been swept by two Metropolitan Division rivals this season:
Carolina Hurricanes: 0-2-2
New York Islanders: 0-3-1
They are 0-2-1 against the Devils with one game remaining and have at least one win against every other division foe.
• Sorokin became the second goaltender to get an assist against the Penguins this season. The first was by Andrei Vasilevskiy of the Tampa Bay Lightning during a 5-4 overtime road win by the Penguins on March 2.
• Dumoulin (130 points) surpassed forward Ross Lonsberry (129) for 71st place on the franchise’s career scoring list.
• Pettersson recorded his 100th career point.
• Before the game, the Penguins assigned forward Alex Nylander to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League.
• Penguins defensemen P.O Joseph and Chad Ruhwedel were healthy scratches. This marked the second healthy scratch of Joseph, a rookie, this season. He was previously scratched for a 4-1 road loss to the Calgary Flames on Oct. 25.