Pittsburgh Penguins @ New York Fish Sticks 1-4 - 11/22

The New York Islanders started their evening by honoring one of the four cornerstones of their 1980s dynasty. They ended it amid cheers of "first place" from the packed house at Nassau Coliseum. Third-period goals by Anders Lee, Brock Nelson and John Tavares gave the Islanders a 4-1 win against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday and a sweep of their home-and-home series.

Before the game, the Islanders honored Hall of Fame goaltender and all-round dirty dog Billy Smith, who led them to four consecutive Stanley Cups from 1980-83. After that, they went out and played the kind of game the Islanders teams of that era would have been proud of. The win moved the Islanders, who have won three consecutive games and are 8-1-0 in their past nine, into a tie with Pittsburgh for first place in the Metropolitan Division at 28 points apiece. The Penguins have a game in hand on New York. But technicalities like games in hand didn't matter to the 16,170 fans who serenaded the Islanders after they dominated the Penguins in the final 20 minutes. Lee put the Islanders ahead for the first time at 2:38 when he got his stick on a put-it-on-the-net slap shot by Lubomir Visnovsky and deflected it past Penguins goalie Thomas Greiss for his third goal of the season. Penguins got their first power play in the back-to-back games when Islanders defenseman Thomas Hickey was called for holding at 5:17. But New York's penalty killers kept Pittsburgh to the outside and limited the NHL's top power-play unit to two shots on goal. The Penguins did not have a power play in a 5-4 shootout loss to the Islanders on Friday at Consol Energy Center. Nelson gave the Islanders a two-goal lead at 9:47, tapping in a feed from Kyle Okposo to complete a tic-tac-toe passing play that was started by Tavares. It was Nelson's team-high 10th goal of the season and New York's first in 10 power plays against the Penguins in three games this season. Tavares completed the scoring with 4:14 remaining when he dunked the rebound of Johnny Boychuk's shot from the right point for his eighth goal of the season. Evgeni Malkin had a first-period goal for the Penguins. Matt Martin got the Islanders even late in the second period. Greiss made 31 saves in his fourth start of the season. New York's Jaroslav Halak stopped 27 shots to win his sixth consecutive decision. One key factor in the Islanders' weekend sweep was their ability to shut down Crosby. He entered the weekend with 85 points in 46 career games against the Islanders but was held off the scoresheet in both games. Crosby disagreed with the idea that the Penguins passed up shots instead of putting the puck on the net and going after the rebound. Greiss made the best save of the first period after the 15-minute mark when he denied Tavares after a coast-to-coast rush. Malkin put the Penguins ahead at 16:49 when his wrist shot from the lower left circle leaked through Halak with Pittsburgh forward Nick Spaling crashing the net. Neither team generated consistent pressure through most of the second period before the Islanders' fourth line tied the game at 18:01. Nick Leddy's shot from the left point hit traffic in front of Greiss; players from both teams flailed away at the puck until it popped out to an unchecked Martin, who backhanded it into the open right side with Greiss down and out of the play. Martin, who didn't have a goal in the Islanders' first 18 games, scored for the second time in as many nights. Halak kept the game tied with 53 seconds left in the period when he read a play correctly and moved to the top of the blue paint to get in front of Blake Comeau's deflection.

Pens Quotes

Sidney Crosby: "It was a tie game going into the third [period], so we can't say we didn't give ourselves a chance. That being said, we didn't give a very big push in the third period to give ourselves a chance to win. They raised their level and we didn't. I feel we didn't pass up many chances to shoot. We just couldn't get control of the puck. They carried the play in the offensive zone, and by the time we ended up having to make plays, we didn't have enough energy."

Penalties

1st Period
15:24 NYI	Travis Hamonic  Fighting (maj) against  Steve Downie
15:24 PIT	Steve Downie  Fighting (maj) against  Travis Hamonic
18:50 PIT	Olli Maatta  Hooking against  Kyle Okposo
2nd Period
05:59 PIT	Beau Bennett  Roughing against  Ryan Strome
05:59 NYI	Ryan Strome  Roughing against  Beau Bennett
3rd Period
05:17 NYI	Thomas Hickey  Holding against  Evgeni Malkin
09:01 PIT	Steve Downie  Interference against  Thomas Hickey
09:01 PIT	Steve Downie  Misconduct (10 min)
19:30 NYI	Travis Hamonic  Misconduct (10 min) against  Zach Sill
19:30 PIT	Zach Sill  Misconduct (10 min) against  Travis Hamonic