The Penguins' four-game win streak ended on Tuesday night at PPG Paints Arena against an Islanders team that is right in the mix for a Wild Card playoff spot. New York battled back in the third period to earn a 4-2 win.
Joona Koppanen opened the scoring for Pittsburgh with his first NHL goal, and Sidney Crosby got his 24th of the season to give the Penguins a 2-0 lead heading into the final frame. However, four unanswered goals catapulted New York to the win.
“We just beat ourselves,” Crosby said. “We made some mistakes. Obviously, they’re going to push... but there just wasn’t a lot of pushback (from us).”
Just seconds into the third period, New York got a golden opportunity to score and took advantage, with Kyle Palmieri burying his 21st of the season.
“They win the faceoff at center ice, and it turns into a 2-on-0 down the other end. It's just playing a game with not a whole lot of purpose,” head coach Mike Sullivan said. “So, we give up an easy goal to start the third period, and it gives them life, it gives them juice.
“It’s still a 2-1 game. We still have a lead. We've got to respond. We got to respond and play the right way, and we didn’t. We gave up odd-man rushes. We didn't stay on the right side of people. We weren't physical enough in all three zones. We didn't close on people in the defensive zone. We just didn't play hard enough.”
Instead, the Islanders struck again a few minutes later. This time, Noah Dobson put home a rebound, tying the game 2-2. That was followed by Pierre Engvall giving New York the lead with just under seven to go. An empty net goal by Simon Holmstrom with 1:32 to play sealed the deal.
“They were even-keeled the whole game,” Jarry said. “They were defending hard, and I think they were just putting a lot of pucks on net. Their game never really changed. And I think they just stuck to it longer than we did.”
Jarry, who had won four straight decisions coming into the game, recorded 34 saves on 37 shots, including a strong span in the second period where he kept New York off the board during a power play.
“I thought Jars was terrific all night long,” Sullivan said.
The Penguins, who have been celebrating a lot of firsts lately, added another one to the list just 4:40 into regulation. Koppanen, who was recalled from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on an emergency basis with some guys nicked up, recorded his milestone tally.
“Great feeling, of course, but we're all here for a win, so can't be too happy with that,” Koppanen said.
It was Koppanen's season debut with Pittsburgh. This season in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, Koppanen has six goals, 15 assists, and 21 points in 53 games played. When asked why the forward earned the recall, Sullivan said the biggest reason was that Koppanen is playing extremely well, and that carried over into tonight.
“I thought he was solid. Really liked his pace,” said Sullivan, who bumped Koppanen up the lineup later in the game. “I think he's picked up a step... Played with good details, he defends hard. He was good on the penalty kill. Obviously scores a goal, it's a huge boost of confidence for him.”
The Penguins ended the period with another memorable goal. With 14.4 seconds remaining in the opening frame, Crosby cleaned up a loose puck and found the back of the net, extending Pittsburgh’s lead.
Crosby's goal gave him his 1,670th point, officially passing Wayne Gretzky for the fourth-most points all-time with one franchise. The goal also extended Crosby's home point streak to 11 games, the third-longest active streak in the league.
The Penguins got a power-play opportunity of their own in the second period but couldn’t convert, despite getting some good looks. The Penguins went 0-for-3 on the power play for the night.
“I thought we were forechecking well, had a lot of zone time,” Crosby said of what went right in the first 40 minutes. “Probably just the puck possession. I thought we possessed the puck for most of that first two periods there.”
The Penguins have a couple of days off before playing Columbus on Friday at 7 PM to complete their five-game homestand.
