Islanders come back from two goals down in third to defeat Penguins in shootout
Anders Lee of the Islanders (left) celebrates after Jean-Gabriel Pageau of the Islanders ties the game at 3-3 in the third period during a game against the Penguins on Tuesday, November 5, 2024 at UBS Arena. Credit: Dawn McCormick
Better late than never.
The Islanders struggled early with their passing and shot accuracy but rallied from a two-goal deficit in the third period for a 4-3 shootout win over the Penguins on Tuesday night at UBS Arena.
Bo Horvat’s one-handed push-in in the second round was the shootout’s only goal after both teams did not convert on power plays in overtime.
“Just the mindset of not being denied,” defenseman Noah Dobson told Newsday. “I think we deserved one. The guys played hard. We’ve been in that situation a few times this year where we haven’t come back. It’s nice to see the team stick with it.”
Ilya Sorokin stopped 32 shots for the Islanders (5-6-2) while Alex Nedeljkovic made 23 saves for the Penguins (5-7-2).
“Our third period was our best,” said Horvat, whose feed from the right way set up Jean-Gabriel Pageau’s equalizer from the slot at 12:48 of the third period. “And it wasn’t anything that we did crazy. It was just that we started getting in behind them and getting on their defensemen and playing more of a grinding game, like our identity is. As soon as we did that in the third period, they couldn’t handle us down low.”
Each team went 1-for-4 on the power play, with Simon Holmstrom grabbing the rebound of Kyle Palmieri’s shot and lifting a backhander on the man advantage to bring the Islanders within 3-2 at 9:41 of the third period.
“I think the old adage of earning your luck,” said Palmieri, who tied the game at 1-1 at 12:21 of the second period as he swatted in the floating rebound of Horvat’s shot. “We’ve done enough to be in games and have them go either way. Tonight was an opportunity for us to come from behind and do it in a fashion where we felt we earned the two points.
“The first two periods kind of felt maybe that we were just a little hesitant holding onto the pucks a little too long.”
The comeback earned defenseman Isaiah George a win in his NHL debut after he had been brought up from the Islanders’ AHL affiliate in Bridgeport.
The Islanders played a second straight game without defensemen Adam Pelech (jaw/four-to-six weeks), Mike Reilly (concussion/day to day) and Alexander Romanov (upper body/day to day).
The 6-1, 196-pound George, 20, logged 15:41 with one shot in just his fifth professional game. For the most part, he was poised and calm when handling the puck and did not get caught out of position or knocked off the puck physically.
“Outstanding,” said coach Patrick Roy, who trusted George enough to have him on the ice for a 40-second shift in overtime. “Good job, kid.”
“Just go out there and play hockey and not try to think too much about it,” said George, a fourth-round pick in 2022 who took the traditional rookie lap before the Islanders’ took the ice for warmups. “It was great. Dream come true. You couldn’t write it any better, we get the win at the end.”
It just didn’t seem like it would end up that way for the better part of 40 minutes.
Evgeni Malkin’s power-play one-timer from the right circle gave the Penguins a 2-1 lead at 13:37 with Max Tsyplakov in the penalty box for tripping.
That became 3-1 at 7:44 of the third period as Noel Acciari’s stretch pass to Jesse Puljujarvi created an odd-man situation and led to Michael Bunting’s first goal of the season.
The Penguins opened the scoring as Sidney Crosby — with goal No. 598 — was open in the slot at 5:27 of the second period.
The Islanders challenged that Noel Acciari, trying to get off the ice and onto the Penguins’ bench in the offensive zone, was offside. And while it appeared the puck had crossed the goal line, the goal stood, leaving a disbelieving Roy irate.
Notes & quotes: Sorokin’s third straight start marked his 200th NHL appearance. He became the fifth Islanders’ goalie to reach that milestone with the team after Billy Smith (674 games), Rick DiPietro (318), Chico Resch (282) and Kelly Hrudey (241) . . . Roy said there was no update on Romanov or Reilly and neither had resumed skating . . . Left wing Matt Martin remained a healthy scratch.
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.
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