Islanders comeback falls short vs. Pens

PITTSBURGH — Bryan Rust sat in the penalty box as the Islanders trimmed a three-goal deficit to two, then flirted with cutting it to one as the clock ticked down.

When the Penguins forward hopped out, however, he found another friendly bounce in a night full of them, pouncing on a clearing attempt and racing down the ice to finish off his fourth career hat trick as the Penguins cooled off the Islanders 6-3 on Saturday.

Mathew Barzal ended a 10-game goal drought by picking up his 10th of the season. Anthony Beauvillier and Jordan Eberle also scored for the Islanders, but the Penguins needed just 26 minutes to Ilya Sorokin on their way to building a 5-0 lead.

The 25-year-old rookie had been unbeaten since mid-February, but his eight-game run — one of them a 2-0 shutout win over the Penguins on Feb. 28 — came to an abrupt end after giving up four goals on nine shots before being replaced by Semyon Varlamov.

“I didn’t see enough from anybody, Ilya included,” Islanders coach Barry Trotz said. “Ilya and the rest of the team. It just wasn’t enough. So change it up. Maybe Varly could stabilize us, and maybe we can crawl back in the game.”

Sidney Crosby had a goal and an assist, Evan Rodrigues added his fourth and Frederick Gaudreau scored for the first time in more than two years as Pittsburgh improved to 5-2 against the Islanders.

“We didn’t shrink,” Barzal said. “We tried to push. We had a great push at the end.”

The Penguins can tie the Islanders with another win when the teams meet again Monday for the eighth and final time during the regular season. —