Penguins fall apart in third, lose to Isles
There is potentially plenty of benefit for the Pittsburgh Penguins to meekly close out the remainder of the 202425 season with as few victories as possible.
There is potentially plenty of benefit for the Pittsburgh Penguins to meekly close out the remainder of the 202425 season with as few victories as possible.
A poorer record would increase the chances of better selections in the NHL’s Draft this June.
But the players on the current roster aren’t particularly motivated by that pursuit.
They just want to win the game in front of them. That is not what happened Tuesday at PPG Paints Arena in a come-from-ahead 4-2 loss to the New York Islanders. The visitors generated all of their offense in the third period to overcome a two-goal lead for the hosts, who entered the contest with a four-game winning streak.
Since the trade deadline March 8, the Penguins had surprised many with their quartet of victories while largely dressing a threadbare lineup.
“We’ve just given ourselves a chance with a lot of different things,” Penguins forward Sidney Crosby said Monday in Cranberry. “But really just not beating ourselves for the most part. We’re not making too many costly mistakes. And, obviously, (goaltender Tristan Jarry) deserves a lot of credit. There have been games where we haven’t had momentum, and teams have gotten pretty good looks and he’s made some big saves. It’s a combination of not beating ourselves with too many big mistakes, and our goaltending has been really good.”
Jarry stopped 36 of 39 shots Tuesday as his record to slipped to 12-9-4.
Penguins forward Joona Koppanen, recalled from Wilkes- Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League under emergency roster conditions earlier in the day, opened the scoring 4 minutes, 40 seconds into regulation with his first career goal.
Penguins forward Kevin Hayes rushed the puck up ice through the neutral zone and chipped it to the right corner, allowing linemate Boko Imama to chase it down on the forecheck. Fending off Islanders defenseman Tony DeAngelo, Imama dished a pass to the near point for Penguins defenseman Kris Letang, who then offloaded the puck to the opposite point for defensive partner Vladislav Kolyachonok.
Hesitating for a moment, Kolyachonok chipped a wrister toward the cage. Stationed just below the lower left hashmark, Koppanen fought off Islanders defenseman Adam Pelech and deflected the puck by goaltender Ilya Sorokin’s blocker on the near side.
Crosby’s 24th came at 19:45 of the first period. Defenseman Noah Dobson converted a rebound into his eighth goal at the 5:34 mark.
The Islanders took their first lead at 13:08 of the third via forward Pierre Engvall’s fifth goal.
Victory was secured when Holmstrom scored his 16th goal on an empty net at 18:28.
