Palmieri's OT goal lifts Islanders past Penguins in Game 1

PITTSBURGH --Kyle Palmieri scored his second goal at 16:30 of overtime to give the New York Islanders a 4-3 win against the Pittsburgh Penguins in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup First Round at PPG Paints Arena on Sunday.

Palmieri took a pass from Jean-Gabriel Pageau low in the right face-off circle and beat goalie Tristan Jarry over his left shoulder and off the post. Palmieri and forward Travis Zajac, who was a healthy scratch, were acquired in a trade with the New Jersey Devils on April 7.
"It's an incredibly exciting time," Palmieri said. "The opportunity to be in the [Stanley Cup] Playoffs is something I don't take for granted. Obviously, it's hard to get here. We came on the road on a mission. We were able to go out there tonight and find a way to get a win."
Pageau had a goal and two assists for the Islanders, who are the No. 4 seed in the MassMutual East Division. Rookie Ilya Sorokin made 39 saves starting in place of Semyon Varlamov, who did not play for precautionary reasons after sustaining "a little strain" in New York's regular-season finale Monday.
"We had to make a decision, really, last night," Islanders coach Barry Trotz said. "[Varlamov] skated both days. He's going to practice tomorrow as well. We just thought, long term, that's one thing that we think we have is two capable goalies. If we want to have any success, we're going to need both of them. So we said, 'You know what? Let's sort of do what's right. Let's not risk anything here. Let's be cautious. We'll give him another day of practice, and then he'll be 100 percent.'"
Sidney Crosby and Kasperi Kapanen scored, and Jarry made 37 saves for the Penguins, who are the No. 1 seed. Pittsburgh played without forward Evgeni Malkin.
"I thought Tristan made some big saves throughout the course of the game to keep the game where it was at," Pittsburgh coach Mike Sullivan said. "There were some good saves at both ends of the rink. I just think we have to do a better job as a group."
Game 2 of the best-of-7 series will be played here Tuesday (7:30 p.m. ET; NBCSN, CBC, SN, TVAS, ATTSN-PT, MSG, MSG+). Teams that win Game 1 are 490-222 (68.8 percent) winning a best-of-7 NHL playoff series, including 7-1 in the first round last season.
Brock Nelson shot under the glove of Jarry to give the Islanders a 3-2 lead at 15:50 of the third period, but Kapanen tied it 3-3 31 seconds later with a wrist shot off the left post at 16:21.

Palmieri put New York ahead 1-0 with a wrist shot glove side at 7:58 of the first period. He scored four points (two goals, two assists) in 17 regular-season games following the trade.
"He's an Islander," Pageau said. "He fits right in. He's our best player tonight. That's why he got so many chances."
Frederick Gaudreau scored on a wrist shot through traffic to tie it 1-1 at 11:10.
Crosby gave the Penguins a 2-1 lead at 3:47 of the second period, using one hand to tip a shot from Brian Dumoulin. Crosby has scored 190 points (69 goals, 121 assists) in 169 playoff games, tying Brett Hull (103 goals, 87 assists in 202 games) for seventh in NHL history.

"I thought that we had some chances to build on our lead when it was 2-1, and we didn't," Crosby said. "They were able to hang around. Would've been great to hold on to the lead, but a team's going to push. They did, and we didn't get that big one in overtime."
Pageau tied it 2-2 at 3:33 of the third period, beating Jarry glove side again with a wrist shot from the top of the left circle.
"We were starting to get the momentum going," Trotz said. "I felt pretty good getting through the second] period only down 2-1. I felt that if we continue with that, I know we're a pretty good third-period team, that we can get this tied up."
**NOTES:**Sorokin's 39 saves tied
[Kelly Hrudey
(Game 2 of the 1985 Patrick Division Semifinals) for the most by an Islanders rookie in the playoffs. Sorokin is also the second rookie in Islanders history to win his first playoff game, joining
Glenn Resch
, who did so in Game 1 of the 1975 Preliminary Round. … An update on Malkin was not provided after the game. The center was a game-time decision after he did not participate in line rushes or power-play drills in practice Saturday. ... With Malkin out, Jeff Carter was the center on Pittsburgh's second line. … Penguins forward Brandon Tanev had four shots on goal and nine hits in 16:27 of ice time in his return after missing the final 18 games of the regular season with an upper-body injury. … Pittsburgh has lost 10 of its past 11 playoff games.