New Haven Register (New Haven, CT)
Palmieri scores in shootout, Islanders beat Penguins
NEW YORK — Zach Parise and Josh Bailey each scored twice, and Kyle Palmier had the lone goal in the shootout as the New York Islanders beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 5-4 on Tuesday night.
Ilya Sorokin stopped Jake Guentzel, Sidney Crosby and Kris Letang in the shootout and finished with a careerhigh 43 saves for New York.
Jake Guentzel had two goals and an assist, Crosby had two assists and Casey DeSmith made 33 saves for the Penguins, who lost for the fourth time in five games. Danton Heinen and Jeff Carter also scored for Pittsburgh.
Palmieri fired a wrist shot under the blocker of DeSmith to propel the Islanders.
Sorokin made a couple of clutch saves in overtime, including two pad stops on Jason Zucker and an impressive glove save on Guentzel’s redirection in the final minute of the extra session.
Casey Cizikas had the best chance of the 3-on-3 OT with a short-handed breakaway, but the officials ruled that the net was dislodged before the puck crossed the goal line.
Carter knotted the score at 4-all with a power-play goal at 5:38 of the third period. The Islanders were short a skater when Anthony Beauvillier was penalized for a tripping call in the offensive zone. Carter redirected a shot from Guentzel past Sorokin. Crosby also assisted on the tying goal.
New York took a shortlived one-goal lead in the third period after Brian Dumoulin misplayed a puck in the corner and Bailey capitalized. The Islanders’ alternate captain made a move to his backhand and notched his second of the game at 2:49.
The Penguins erased a 3-1 deficit and outshot the Islanders 19-7 in the second period.
Guentzel evened the score at 3-all with his second of the game and 35th of the season at 18:32 of the middle period. The Penguins had possession in the offensive zone for an extended amount of time and wore out the Islanders skaters. Rakell and Chad Ruhwedel assisted.
Heinen pulled Pittsburgh within one when he buried a feed from Kasperi Kapanen at 3:46 of the second period. Heinen sidestepped 39-yearold Islanders defenseman Andy Greene at the blue line to begin the sequence in the offensive zone.
Parise scored on the power play and short-handed to give the Islanders a one-goal advantage in the first period after New York surrendered the opening goal. Mathew Barzal fired a cross-ice pass that Parise fired past the glove of DeSmith to even the score at 9:10 of the first. Noah Dobson collected his 31st assist of the season.
The Islanders took a onegoal lead less than three minutes later when JeanGabriel Pageau slid the puck through the crease to set up Parise for his second of the game. Defenseman Adam Pelech intercepted a pass and exited the defensive zone with possession, which led to the scoring opportunity.
Bailey capped off a threegoal first period for New
York when he took advantage of a Penguins turnover. Pageau and Kyle Palmieri’s aggressive forecheck forced Penguins forward Teddy Blueger to get rid of the puck behind the net and Bailey hammered a slap shot past DeSmith in the final minute of the first period to give the Islanders a 3-1 lead.
Guentzel opened the scoring at 5:52 of the first. Crosby’s sharp-angled shot created a rebound before Rakell was able to nudge the puck over to Guentzel for an easy tap-in goal.
PLAYOFFS APPROACHING
Pittsburgh’s magic number is three points (combination of wins or Islanders losses) to clinch a spot in the playoffs for a 16th consecutive season. The Penguins’ current stretch of 15 straight playoff appearances is the longest active postseason streak among teams in the major North American professional sports leagues and is the eighth-longest run of any NHL club since the 1967 NHL expansion. It is one shy of tying the Calgary Flames (1976-91) for the seventhlongest such run.
UP NEXT
The teams meet again Thursday at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh.
HURRICANES 4, RANGERS 2
NEW YORK — Seth Jarvis and Jordan Staal scored third-period goals and Frederik Andersen made 28 saves as the Carolina Hurricanes beat the New York Rangers 4-2 on Tuesday night in a showdown for first place in the Metropolitan Division.
Chris Kreider scored late for his 50th goal of the season, but Carolina moved four points ahead of second-place New York with eight games remaining in the regular season. Kreider became the fourth player in Rangers history to reach the milestone.
The Rangers had their three-game winning streak snapped but are 7-2-1 in their last 10. They clinched a playoff berth for the first time since 2017 with a win over Ottawa last Saturday and are 24-8-4 at home.
After the teams traded goals in the second period, Jarvis put the Hurricanes ahead at 1:04 of the third, taking a pass from Sebastian Aho and flipping a backhand past Rangers goaltender Igor Shesterkin. Aho finished with a goal and two assists. He leads the Hurricanes with 41 assists and 75 points.
The goal was the 14th of the season for the rookie Jarvis, a first-round draft pick by Carolina in 2020. Former Rangers defenseman Brady Skjei also assisted.
BLUES 4, BRUINS 2
BOSTON — Vladimir Tarasenko scored twice, including the go-ahead goal in the second period, and the St. Louis Blues rallied to beat the Boston Bruins 4-2 on Tuesday night.
Torey Krug and David Perron each finished with a goal and an assist as the Blues (43-20-10) posted their sixth straight victory.
Ville Husso had 39 saves to win his fifth straight start. Robert Thomas added his 48th assist of the season, extending his career-best point streak to 10 games.
Boston (45-23-5) has lost three of its last four since a three-game winning streak. Patrice Bergeron scored his 20th goal of the season, and rookie Marc McLaughlin had his second career goal. Jeremy Swayman finished with 26 saves.
St. Louis arrived for its first visit to Boston since October 2019 as one of the league’s hottest teams, but started slowly against a Bruins squad looking to bounce back after dropping two of three to end a four-game road trip.