Penguins Flip the Script, But Lose to Islanders, 5-4, in Overtime
The Pittsburgh Penguins know all about late-game comebacks, because they’ve seen lots of them this season.
Usually by the other team.
But Tuesday night, it was the Penguins, not their opponents, who rallied late in the third period to force overtime.
The extra period lasted just 57 seconds, though, before New York defenseman Adam Pelech scored from the slot to give the Islanders a 5-4 victory at PPG Paints Arena.
“I saw it the whole way,” Penguins goalie Alex Nedeljkovic said. “I just missed it.”
The Penguins (24-21-8) are 1-4-1 in their past six games.
Penguins defenseman Erik Karlsson assisted on their first goal to earn the 800th point of his career. He reached that milestone in 973 games, faster than all but eight defensemen in NHL history.
Evgeni Malkin, meanwhile, assisted on the Penguins’ fourth goal to snap a four-game streak without a point.
The Penguins got off to a sputtering start — New York had a 7-1 advantage in shots 6 1/2 minutes into the game — before putting together some solid shifts as the middle of the opening period approached.
Bryan Rust nearly put the Penguins in front at 12:15, as he burst down the left side then went hard to the net, but Islanders goalie Ilya Sorokin was able to stop him.
The Penguins fared better about a half-minute later, as Marcus Pettersson beat Sorokin from inside the right dot at 12:48 for his third of the season. Rickard Rakell and Karlsson got the assists.
Pettersson turned up on the scoresheet again at 14:41, when he was assessed a tripping minor. Although New York generated good pressure while he was off, it was unable to score.
Reilly Smith had a chance to pad the Penguins’ advantage in the waning seconds of the period, as he was able to skate unimpeded down the left side, but Sorokin stopped his slap shot from the top of the circle.
New York tied the game on an excellent individual effort by Brock Nelson at 3:40 of the second. He carried the puck through the left circle, then cut inside of Pettersson before throwing a backhander past Nedelkjovic from the slot.
The Penguins’ power play had an opportunity to put them back in front when Islanders forward Mathew Barzal was called for hooking at 4:28.
New York entered the game with the NHL’s lowest-ranked penalty-kill, with a success rate of just 70.7 percent, but the Penguins mostly passed the puck around the perimeter and did not get a shot on Sorokin.
That was bad.
What followed immediately after Barzal’s penalty expired was worse.
He came out of the penalty box and collected the puck at the New York blue line, then charged into the Pittsburgh Penguins’ end and threw a shot over Nedeljkovic’s glove at 6:37 for a 2-1 lead.
The Penguins survived an interference minor on Rickard Rakell at 11:10, but five seconds after he returned, New York forward Simon Holmstrom knocked the puck away from Karlsson behind the goal line, then tucked a shot inside the right post to make it 3-1.
Lars Eller sliced New York’s lead in half at 16:35, beating Sorokin with a wrist shot from well above the right circle for his 10th. Eller’s shot appeared to deflect off New York defenseman Adam Pelech as it neared the net.
Assists went to Chad Ruhwedel and Ryan Graves, but the guy who made it possible was Smith, who set a good screen in front of Sorokin.
The Islanders challenged that the goal should have been disallowed because the Penguins had been guilty of a hand pass before Eller scored, but the video review went against New York.
That meant the Penguins were awarded a power play, but they again spent most of those two minutes overpassing the puck.
New York defenseman Mike Reilly was penalized for tripping 32.1 seconds before the intermission. Another two uneventful minutes followed.
Reilly restored the Islanders’ two-goal edge at 10:42 of the third, throwing a shot past Nedeljkovic from the top of the left circle.
That figured to be a potentially mortal blow, but the Penguins quickly countered with two goals in a span of 56 seconds.
Valtteri Puustinen got them within one at 12:06, punching in a Kris Letang rebound for his second of the season. Smith received the second assist.
Drew O’Connor made it 4-4 at 13:02, when his attempt to feed a puck to Pettersson, who was between the left circle and the crease, caromed off Islanders forward Anders Lee and into the net for his seventh for the final goal of regulation. Malkin got the only assist.
The Pittsburgh Penguins are scheduled to practice Wednesday at noon at UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex.
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2nd game in a row a team with a useless, expired coach gets beaten by a team with a new coach. But hey, it won’t fix anything! Better extend Teflon Mike before his new deal kicks in. I’d hate for another team to have access to this elite system
What are you talking about? Roy had a horrible game. The Isles are a bad team and won’t get better. That’s why it was 4:4. Some good team would’ve won in regulation. These two teams are going nowhere whatever you do. No coach will change that. It might look to some that we were playing a bit better, but it’s just that we were up against a similar quality team.
“We’ve tried nothing and it still isn’t working.” You might believe that a coaching change won’t help, but what does it honestly hurt to try? This guy sucks
It would help me tremendously if you could explain to me how things would change. I mean, to me it seems that you can’t make a pie out of fertilizer, no matter how good of a chef you are. It will still be a pie full of cow dung. But hey, I’m all ears. Enlighten me by explaining exactly what would change and how Graves and others would play under this new coach and I’m on board. I will start shouting from the rooftops: “Fire Sully!. Go!
I’ll gladly explain once you enlighten me as to how keeping him around for year 10 is going to help. Should Darryl Sutter still be coaching Los Angeles? Coaches have a shelf life. Sitting on your hands and doing nothing while you’re 11 points out of a wild card spot in late February sure is a bold strategy. Let’s see if it pays off!
More vague replies. Just talking about shelf life and changing the coach. Anyone can do that. I’m asking you what does it mean and how things would change. For the Isles, not much. They’re the same as before, they just ran into a team they can beat. They, as the Pens, won’t be in the playoffs. From what you’re saying, I just came to the conclusion that we should’ve kept Hextall and fired Sully, and now everything would be fine with Gralund, Petry, Rutta… Now, if you don’t have something meaningful to say, I’ll just go to sleep. Maybe I’ll… Read more »
They lack talent.
It’s talent, it’s the 3rd GM’s fault, it’s his 2nd batch of assistant coaches. It’s never Teflon Mike’s fault, baybay! Richest victim in the world
Why the heck do they practice? It sure isn’t making it perfect…and what was that line starting OT ?
They don’t practice 3 on 3. It’s beneath the genius that is Mike Sullivan. That’s why he leaves the top faceoff man in the league on the bench for…reasons?
When I saw the starting 3 I knew they were toast
Last one out, turn off the lights.
4 goals scored and one point gained. You can’t say that’s not progress.
Ned was off his angle on the last 2 goals. Oh well, what can you do? It was over anyway. Let the selling begin! It’s about time.
Teflon Mike: “I’m doing the best I can with the roster I was given.”
Fiddler Dubas: “Wait. We discussed every personnel move we made this off-season and the waiver claims. You agreed…you nodded your head.”
Teflon Mike: “No, I didn’t nod. I’ve had a lifelong crick in my neck and was just trying to loosen it up.”
Kyle Dubas…a.k.a. Nero cuz he fiddles with midget waiver claims while this team crumbles and other teams make moves to improve their roster.
Very sad. Feel worse for Sid as the captain of this shitshow than I do for myself as a fan.
Seen this movie to many times this year, tie it up then lose it in overtime, what a joke
Stick a fork in them. Everyone they can get rid of goes. Even Sulli.
I’m not sure Roy made a mistake by challenging the goal. Every coach in the league figures if there’s a small chance of overturning a Penguins goal to challenge it. The worst that can happen is you give a power play to a team converting at 14%. It’s a risk they’re willing to take.