Brock Nelson scored on a breakaway at 2:13 of overtime Thursday as the visiting New York Islanders rallied for a 4-3 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins.
It was a Metropolitan Division and Eastern Conference wild-card showdown. The Islanders, in the first wild-card spot, opened a two-point lead on Pittsburgh and swept the teams’ four-game season series.
Anders Lee added two goals, Hudson Fasching also scored and Nelson had two points for the Islanders, who won their third straight game.
New York goaltender Ilya Sorokin made 33 saves.
Jake Guentzel, Jason Zucker and Josh Archibald scored and Jeff Petry had two assists for the Penguins, who have lost two of three (1-1-1).
Pittsburgh goaltender Tristan Jarry stopped 24 shots.
With New York down by two after the second period, Fasching closed the gap to 3-2 at 14:31 of the third. In the slot, he took a feed from Casey Cizikas along the right-wing boards, fought off coverage by Pittsburgh defenseman Jan Rutta and beat Jarry stick side.
With 1:15 left in regulation, Lee struck again, on a redirection, to tie it 3-3, with Sorokin pulled for an extra skater.
When he was called for interfering with New York’s Pierre Engvall in the first period, Evgeni Malkin had the dubious distinction of becoming Pittsburgh’s all-time leader in penalty minutes with 1,050 — in 1,045 games. He broke the mark previously held by Kevin Stevens (1,048 penalty minutes in 522 games).
The Islanders opened the scoring on the resulting power play. Bo Horvat got his own rebound and fed Lee, who converted on a shot from the low slot at 5:23.
Guentzel tied it 1-1 at 11:07 of the first when he redirected a knuckling point shot by Marcus Pettersson down to the ice and past Sorokin’s stick.
At 18:24 of the first, Zucker picked up his seventh goal in six games to push the Penguins in front 2-1. He converted a feed from Malkin, who was deep. From between the hash marks, Zucker beat Sorokin glove side.
Pittsburgh increased it to 3-1 at 10:49 of the second period. Brian Dumoulin let loose a floating shot from the left point, and it went in off Archibald’s arm in a crowd near the crease.
–Field Level Media
