The New York Islanders visited the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday, February 20th. The game went back and forth, the Islanders ended up with a lead until Valtteri Puustinen and Drew O’Connor had scored just 56 seconds apart to tie the game. However, the Penguins unfortunately lost their second straight game in overtime, 5-4.
Islanders lineup against the Penguins:
Lee – Horvat – Barzal
Engvall – Nelson – Palmieri
Holmstrom – Pageau – Wahlstrom
Martin – Cizikas – Clutterbuck
Romanov – Dobson
Pelech – Pulock
Reilly – Mayfield
Sorokin
Varlamov
Penguins lineup against the Islanders:
Rakell – Crosby – Rust
O’Connor – Malkin – Phillips
Smith – Eller – Puustinen
Harkins – Carter – White
Joseph – Letang
Pettersson – Karlsson
Graves – Ruhwedel
Nedeljkovic
Jarry
The Penguins opened the scoring at 7:12 of the first period. Marcus Pettersson recorded his second goal of the season when he scored a one-timer from the right face-off circle. In the remainder of the first, Pittsburgh held their one-nothing lead.
Brock Nelson tied the game 1-1 early at 16:20 of the middle frame. He skated past both Erik Karlsson and Marcus Pettersson, to the slot and shot a backhand to get his 23rd. Putting New York ahead, Mat Barzal flicked in a wrist shot on a breakaway after he exited the penalty box. Barzal extended his eight-game point streak to 11 points (five goals, six assists). Karlsson turned the puck over behind the net and Simon Holmstrom scored his 12th goal of the season with a wraparound. Cutting the Islanders’ lead to 3-2, Lars Eller scored a snap shot that deflected off Adam Pelech late into the second period.
At 9:18, extending the lead to 4-2, Mike Reilly scored a wrist shot… Valtteri Puustinen scored his first goal of the season on a rebound. Puustinen stuffed it in from the crease to cut it at 4-3. Drew O’Connor tied it at 4-4 on a cross-ice pass that made it in off Anders Lee’s skate in front just 56 seconds apart from Puustinen’s goal.
Only 57 seconds into overtime, Adam Pelech recorded his first goal of the season for the 5-4 final to hand the Penguins their second straight loss.
Sidney Crosby on the Penguins’ loss in overtime: “It wasn’t an ideal situation to be in but we battled hard – I think it’s hard. We’re kind of in between, it changes. Obviously, you don’t want to give up a line like that… typically you don’t like a lot of guys skating like that but I think we’re in between line changes too. Take the point and move on. We need points, so we got one and we got to continue to grow.”
Mat Barzal on the team’s win in Pittsburgh: “It’s definitely a big win for our confidence. Coming on Pittsburgh on the road, it’s never an easy win… They played well and anytime that happens, it’s a tough game. It’s just a big confidence booster for our group. We really needed that.”
Notes:
– Erik Karlsson had an assist, reaching 800 NHL career points. He became the ninth-fastest defenseman to record 800 NHL career points in NHL history.
– Drew O’Connor stats: 53 GP 7 Goals 11 Assists 18 Points
– Alex Nedeljkovic made 28 saves for Pittsburgh and Ilya Sorokin made 37 saves for New York.
– Mat Barzal, Brock Nelson, and Adam Pelech each had a goal and an assist.
