Ilya Sorokin has 44 saves as Islanders top Penguins
Islanders goaltender Ilya Sorokin makes a save against Penguins center Teddy Blueger during the third period of an NHL game in Pittsburgh on Monday. Credit: AP/Matt Freed
PITTSBURGH — There’s no sugarcoating how injury-depleted the Islanders were when they played the first of what will be many games without top-line playmaker Mathew Barzal.
But in a huge game against the Penguins, a direct rival for a playoff spot, the undermanned Islanders found a way to win, 4-2, on Monday night at PPG Paints Arena.
“I think so, yeah,” coach Lane Lambert said when asked if this was their most rewarding win of the season. “It felt like it coming off the ice for sure.”
The Islanders (29-24-7), who moved into the Eastern Conference’s first wild-card spot, found a way to win through an energizing multi-player scrum late in the second period (the teams totaled 62 penalty minutes in the game).
They found it with a brilliant Ilya Sorokin (44 saves) reaching back to make a ridiculous paddle save late in the second period on Kris Letang and denying Teddy Blueger’s shorthanded breakaway early in the third, keeping the Islanders within one.
They found it with penalty-killer Alexander Romanov sweeping the puck off the goal line to prevent the Islanders from falling behind by two goals early in the second period.
And they found it with top-line stalwarts Bo Horvat and Anders Lee scoring the tying and go-ahead goals within one minute, 41 seconds in a third period in which the Islanders outscored the Penguins 3-0.
“It shows the character that we have in this room to stick with it,” Horvat said. “It was an unbelievable win by us tonight.”
The Islanders have won all three games against the Penguins (27-20-9) in regulation, including Friday night’s 5-4 victory at UBS Arena, a game in which they twice rallied from two-goal deficits.
But the Islanders were coming off Saturday’s 6-2 road loss to the NHL-leading Bruins, and Barzal was lost early in the first period of that game to an apparent knee injury. He is out week-to-week and the Islanders already were playing without injured forwards Jean-Gabriel Pageau, Josh Bailey, Oliver Wahlstrom and Cal Clutterbuck.
“It’s always fun,” Matt Martin said of beating the Penguins. “Divisional rival. A team we’re trying to get ahead of and stay ahead of in the playoff race. These games never really seem to lack emotion and tempers tend to flare against them.”
The Islanders are one point ahead of the Panthers and two ahead of the Penguins, who have played four fewer games.
Rookie right wing Simon Holmstrom started the game on Horvat’s line with Lee, but Martin finished there.
Tristan Jarry, returning after missing nine games with an upper-body injury, made 28 saves for the Penguins, but he didn’t seem right after Horvat hit him in the mask and collarbone with a high shot at 5:07 of the third period.
Horvat tied it at 2 at 8:34 with a sharp-angle shot that trickled through the goalie and Lee stuffed it in at the post at 10:15 after Jarry turned over the puck. Brock Nelson scored an empty-net goal with 25 seconds remaining to make it 4-2.
Jake Guentzel opened the scoring at the crease at 6:12 of the first period as the Islanders were outshot 19-7 in the opening 20 minutes. Nelson tied it off a two-on-one rush at 5:19 of the second period before Jason Zucker’s power-play goal at 12:26 of the second period made it 2-1.
Andrew Gross joined Newsday in 2018 to cover the Islanders. He began reporting on the NHL in 2003 and has previously covered the Rangers and Devils. Other assignments have included the Jets, St. John’s and MLB.
