Bo Horvat scored the only goal in a shootout Tuesday night for the host New York Islanders, who overcame a two-goal third-period deficit to beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 4-3 in Elmont, N.Y.
Both teams failed to score on the power play in overtime before Horvat came through in the second round of the shootout. The center seemed to lose control of the puck but reached around with his right hand and tucked a backhand shot under the legs of Penguins goalie Alex Nedeljkovic.
Kyle Palmieri had a goal and an assist and Simon Holmstrom and Jean-Gabriel Pageau scored third-period goals for the Islanders, who won for the second time in six games (2-4-0). Horvat logged two assists.
New York goalie Ilya Sorokin made 32 saves before stopping all three Penguins attempts in the shootout.
Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin scored in the second before Michael Bunting scored in the third for the Penguins, who had a two-game winning streak snapped. Rickard Rakell notched two assists, Malkin also had a two-point game, and Nedeljkovic recorded 23 saves before stopping two shootout attempts.
The Penguins outshot the Islanders 12-6 during a scoreless first period before Crosby collected his 598th career goal 5:27 into the second. He flicked a backhand over Sorokin’s glove shoulder following a turnover behind the net by New York defenseman Scott Mayfield.
The Islanders tied the score a little under seven minutes later. Horvat’s shot from the high slot glanced off Nedeljkovic and caromed into the air before Palmieri extended his stick ahead of Pittsburgh’s Kris Letang and poked the rebound into the wide open net.
Malkin put the Penguins ahead again with a power-play goal at 13:37 of the second. He went to one knee in the right faceoff circle and fired a shot over a leaping Crosby that clipped off Sorokin’s pads and skittered into the net.
The Penguins extended their lead to two goals 7:44 into the third when Bunting capped an end-to-end rush by beating Sorokin stick side.
The Islanders began their comeback by scoring two goals over the next 5:04. Holmstrom scored on the power play at 9:41 when he collected the rebound of Palmieri’s shot, dragged the puck around defenseman Ryan Graves and sent a shot over Nedeljkovic’s glove.
Pageau produced the tying goal 3:07 later. He capped a flurry in the Penguins’ zone by taking a pass from Horvat and firing a shot into the far corner of the net as Nedeljkovic was screened by Letang as well as Islanders forward Anders Lee.
–Field Level Media