Penguins/Islanders Recap: Another blown lead, Pens fall in shootout

The Pens turn a 3-1 lead with 10 minutes to go into an overtime game..Which turns into a shootout that they lose

Pregame

The Penguins swap Finnish wingers in the lineup with Valtteri Puustinen out tonight and Jesse Puljujarvi in for this game.

First period

Good start for the Pens, Drew O’Connor nearly scores on his first shift but his hard shot ramps off Ilya Sorokin and his post and out of play.

Ryan Graves takes a tripping penalty that swings the period towards the Islanders’ control. The Penguins kill it off but lose a lot of momentum.

Pittsburgh gets their first power play but doesn’t get a shot on goal out of it.

The Pens claw back eventually and get the better of the play, until Sidney Crosby makes a bad pass attempt that springs NYI on a breakaway. Alex Nedeljkovic comes up huge to keep the score tied going into the first intermission.

Shots are 12-7 PIT in the first, solid start but no score. Islander forwards only get two shots all period.

Second period

Pittsburgh strikes first. Erik Karlsson makes one of his long breakout passes, Rickard Rakell helps dig it off the wall and away from an Islander to Evgeni Malkin. It looks like Malkin whiffs on the puck but it still gets to Crosby who swats a backhander into the net. 1-0.

But wait, NY challenges for Noel Acciari being offside on the play. Acciari was going to the bench as Karlsson’s clearing attempt was fired in. It’s close and takes a painfully long review before the referees decide to uphold the call on the ice for a good goal.

The Islanders are assessed a penalty for the failure but the Pens don’t get much going on the power play.

Deeper into the period, the Islanders score on an odd play of their own. Nedeljkovic loses track of the puck as it flutters down to the ice and Kyle Palmieri makes a really nice hand-eye play to hack it in. 1-1 game out of no where.

Pittsburgh gets a third power play and finally make short work of it. Puck movement leads to Malkin hammering a slapper from the right side in past Sorokin. 2-1.

Shots were 14-10 in favor of the Pens in the second period. Up 2-1 on the road with 20 to go.

Third period

In the third period, Michael Bunting broke his duck and got on the board for first time this season. Jesse Puljujarvi set him up on the rush and Bunting finally got some finish going on. 3-1 with 12:16 to go.

A mid-ice collision sees O’Connor go to the box and give the Islanders a chance to get back in the game. It doesn’t take long for them to make the most of it. Simon Holmstrom gets a rebound, dekes to his backhand and lifts one to the top of the net. 3-2 game with 10:19 still to play.

The Islanders find a tying goal. They’re harder on the puck. Matt Grzelcyk is just standing around taking it all in. JG Pageau eventually finds the puck and puts it in the net. It’s a new game at 3-3 with 7:12 to play.

The Islanders keep up the pressure and get a late-game power play when Bunting takes a two minute minor for high-sticking. Pittsburgh kills it off.

Overtime

Crosby-Rakell-Karlsson get the party started and Sid wins the faceoff so the Pens are in control. Karlsson makes a power drive from the red line all the way in and he’s taken down by Palmieri, Pittsburgh is awarded a 4v3 power play.

Malkin sends a shot/pass for Crosby to tip in front, Sorokin stops it and holds on. But that’s about all Pittsburgh gets.

Bo Horvat straight up takes a dive down to his belly in the ensuing 4v4 and it works to get the even up call with 1:36 to go. NYI gets the extra player for the rest of the way. No dice.

Shootout

Oliver Walhstrom leads it off, Ned says no.

Rakell starts things for the Pens, Sorokin stops him.

—

Horvat goes for NYI and pulls the ol’ Forsberg to score on the backhand.

Crosby takes his turn, the forehand shot is stopped.

—

Palmieri has the chance to ice the win for NYI, he can’t do it.

Letang has to score, he goes with his classic backhand deke and it doesn’t work.

Some thoughts

• Gross loss for the Pens. Up 3-1 with 10 minutes to go against the lowest scoring team in the league and the lead is blown. The Islanders do what they do once the game gets extended into extra time but to get there was disappointing. Tough one to only walk away with one point for Pittsburgh, based on the first 40-45 minutes they should have had it all.
• Good night for the big guys, NYI didn’t have the juice to shutdown the Pens’ power first line. Malkin scored on the power play but Crosby got one in regulation.
• We’ll see how long this can go on, though, over the course of the year. Pittsburgh had seven players (Crosby, Malkin, Rakell, Karlsson, Letang, Grzelyck and Pettersson) all played 21+ minutes. O’Connor was close with 19:35. If those eight are the “haves” for ice time, there are plenty of “have nots”. Five players were in the 9-11 minute range (Beauvillier, St. Ivany, Lizotte, Puljujarvi, Hayes, Bunting). There’s a pretty clear divide that this team is going to ride there top line or two and those defensive pairs and the lower-end of the lineup is going to see the ice about as little as feasibly possible. But take a look at the first list of names and their collective ages, can that go on for five more months?
• Speaking of the age, it’s got to be at least a thought to ponder about if the Penguins tend to lose more leads than the average team from running out of gas. Very often, including tonight, the first 40-50 minutes is great. Then there’s a wall, mental/physical mistakes and you look up and a 3-1 lead is a 3-3 tie just like that. Not sure if there’s any correlation to relying on a very old core that maybe can’t quite reach the finish line like they used to, but it’s an interesting thought.
• Boy what I wouldn’t give for Grzelyck to stop playing 21+ minutes per game.
• Lizotte is starting to round into form in his third game of the season. 7 hits and 1 blocked shot in just under 11 minutes of playing time. He’s noticeable out there hustling around and throwing himself into people.
• Speaking of big hits, Noel Acciari is absolutely rocking about an opponent per game. Tonight’s winner was Casey Cizikias who felt the effects of a big open ice hit from Acciari.
• It seems to be en vogue to skewer a goalie if his save percentage is lower than average but that wouldn’t be fitting for Nedeljkovic’s .886% performance today (23/26). His rebound control wasn’t the absolute sharpest, but he played a good game with a few key stops on breakaways. Goaltending wasn’t a disqualifier from winning this game, or at least not a bigger reason than the usual suspects of spotty team defense at key times was.

Tough start to the road trip considering the early lead, but the Pens get a point out of the night at least. The sledding gets a lot tougher with way better competition on Thursday night in Raleigh.