Penguins Rebound With 3-1 Victory Over Islanders

The Pittsburgh Penguins have been talking for days about how important their last 3 games before the Olympic break are for them.

They have stated that they want to "finish strong" and get momentum going into the 17 day break.

Last night's 3-1 victory over the New York Islanders at Mellon Arena was a good start.

Chris Kunitz scored twice, Evgeni Malkin scored the other goal and added a helper, and goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury made 37 stops in a contest the Penguins were in control of most of the night.

After a scoreless first period when Fleury made several strong saves, Pittsburgh broke through about halfway through the 2nd frame when Malkin led a 3-on-2 rush down the near boards before passing to the high man, Chris Kunitz, who beat Isles' netminder Dwayne Roloson short side to give the Penguins a 1-0 lead.

Geno made it 2-0 at the 17-minute mark when he cleanly won a faceoff in the Islanders' zone back to Mark Eaton. Eaton moved the puck cross-ice to his partner Sergei Gonchar at the opposite point before Sarge blasted one that Malkin easily tipped behind Roloson as he was going to the net.

In the third period, Casper made an appearance.

New York forward Frans Neilsen took, and won, a draw in the Pittsburgh zone against Penguins' forward Tyler Kennedy and went right to the net. He must have made himself invisible because nobody -- and I mean NOBODY -- went with him.

Sure enough, seconds later, he got the puck right in front of Fleury before spinning around and depositing a backhander past the sprawling netminder to make it 2-1.

The Penguins were clearly confused on that play, and it may have largely had to do with the fact that Kennedy took the draw after his linemate and center Jordan Staal got kicked out of the circle. Instead of staying with his man, as TK should have, he went out to the point.

Perhaps he was still getting back in the swing after his spirited fight with Islanders' forward Matt Martin late in the first period?

Anyway, the situation worsened when Staal did the same thing as Kennedy -- went to the point. While he should have gone there lined up on the wing off the draw, what I can't figure out is where defenseman Kris Letang and Brooks Orpik were on the play??

It's one thing if the forwards get confused on who's going to the point and who's staying with the center -- whether that center goes to the net or not -- but one of the defenseman needs to be with anyone going to the net on a face-off at all times.

I'm not sure I've ever seen all 5 Penguin players seemingly go blank like that at the same time.

In any event, while the game was close the next 5 minutes, Kunitz struck again at near the 15-minute mark when linemate Bill Guerin was able to get to a loose puck along the near boards and create somewhat of a 2-on-1.

It wasn't a 'rush' though because Guerin simply worked to get to the puck first in a race with an Islanders' defenseman and then just chipped it over him into open ice near the blueline for a racing Kunitz.

#14 took the puck in on a breakaway, dipped his head momentarily and got Roloson to move first, then beat him low to finish the scoring at 3-1 with his 8th of the season.

With the win, the Penguins moved to within 1 point of the New Jersey Devils in the Atlantic Division. New Jersey lost to the Philadelphia Flyers in overtime last night -- their 11th loss in the last 15 games.

The Penguins played a pretty strong game last night. They gave up a lot of chances and were outshot 38-28, but Fleury was strong and, overall, the Penguins were relatively solid defensively.

They got a nice game from Letang on the blueline, who sprawled to make a diving save in the first period on a play where Fleury was out of position, and also got an inspired performance from winger Mike Rupp last night.

Rupp was a physical force from the drop of the puck, getting in Roloson's face at one point and even challenging Islanders' defenseman Andy Sutton in the first period as a way of responding to the hit he put on teammate Pascal Dupuis at the end of the game the last time these two clubs faced off.

Sutton declined Rupp's invitation, perhaps listening to recent trade rumors connecting him to the Pens and thinking it may not be a good idea to get into a tussle with a potential new teammate.

I also thought Mark Letestu had a strong game. I like what I've seen from him overall during his recent call-up (or call-ups, as the case may be). He struggled on Sunday in the Pens' loss to the Washington Capitals, but last night, he was tenacious on the puck, showed good hockey sense, and helped create a few scoring chances.

The Penguins host the Islanders' brethren from New York -- the Rangers -- in their next contest on Friday at The Igloo.

With the Olympic roster freeze set to take effect tomorrow at midnight, it will be interesting to see what moves are made, if any, in the next 36 or so hours. The Penguins have been as involved in talking with other teams as any club, so we'll see.

More soon.


NOTES:

Thank goodness for small favors. With the Capitals threatening the Penguins' NHL record single season 17-game winning streak, the Caps' were finally defeated last night, in Montreal by the Canadiens. Attempting to defy conventional wisdom once again, the Caps' overcame a 3-goal, 5-2 deficit in the third period by scoring with 20 seconds left in the contest to send it into overtime. Fortunately, the Habs didn't wilt, and won it with 8 seconds left in the 5-minute period on a goal by Tomas Plekanec, stopping Washington's streak at 14 games and preserving the Pens' league mark for another day.