Anders Lee scored 25 goals as a rookie in 2014-15. This season hasn't gone quite as smoothly, but the New York Islanders' power forward is showing signs of being the player he and his team know he can be. Lee's power-play goal with 11:05 remaining broke a tie and the Islanders defeated the Pittsburgh Penguins 2-1 at Barclays Center. New York has won four in a row and moved five points ahead of the Penguins for third place in the Metropolitan Division. The Islanders are three points behind the second-place New York Rangers and have three games in hand.
Lee broke a 1-1 tie after Penguins center Matt Cullen was penalized for cross-checking. Lee, who made his presence known in front of the net all game, redirected Leddy's shot past goalie Marc-Andre Fleury for his 12th goal of the season and third in the past four games. John Tavares scored, and Nick Leddy and Frans Nielsen each had two assists for the Islanders, who lost goalie Jaroslav Halak with 4:22 remaining with what appeared to be a lower-body injury. He went down to stop a shot from the right point by Trevor Daley and remained down on the ice. Halak eventually headed for the dressing room and was replaced by Thomas Greiss. Islanders coach Jack Capuano did not have an update on Halak's condition after the game. Halak made 31 saves; Greiss stopped the Penguins' final three shots.
Kris Letang scored and Fleury made 25 saves for Pittsburgh. The Penguins nearly tied it in the final seconds, but Phil Kessel's shot from the left circle was blocked by Islanders defenseman Travis Hamonic. New York was 2-for-4 on the power play; Pittsburgh was 0-for-3. Halak kept the Penguins off the board 61 seconds into the game with a dazzling left pad save on Kessel from point-blank range off a 2-on-1 rush with Evgeni Malkin.
Tavares opened the scoring with a power-play goal at 8:04 of the first period. Nine seconds after Patric Hornqvist was whistled for hooking, Tavares sent a slap shot from the right circle that deflected off defenseman Brian Dumoulin's stick and past Fleury to give the Islanders a 1-0 lead. Letang tied it at 13:13. With the teams skating 4-on-4, Letang took a pass from Sidney Crosby and beat Halak with a wrist shot from the right circle to make it 1-1. With the assist, Crosby extended his point streak to six games.
Carl Hagelin missed his second straight game because of an upper-body injury.
Pens Quotes
Mike Sullivan: "It's discouraging. I thought we played a lot of good hockey. I thought we controlled territory for most of the night. The difference in the game is special teams."Sidney Crosby: "I thought we worked hard to get possession. They definitely make you work. You can't really make a lot of pretty plays. I thought we worked hard, but the execution wasn't quite there."
Other Results
NY Rangers @ Buffalo 4-2
Ottawa @ Carolina 3-4 SO
Detroit @ Columbus 3-5
Boston @ Tampa Bay 1-0 OT
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