Penguins 5, Islanders 2
PITTSBURGH -- The Pittsburgh Penguins' offense continued to break out of its shell, and goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury won in his return from injury Saturday in a 5-2 victory over the New York Islanders.
Fleury, who missed eight games because of a concussion, made 38 saves for his 14th victory of the season. He was facing his backup last year with the Penguins, Islanders goalie Thomas Greiss, who gave up four goals on 26 shots before he was pulled.
Center Sidney Crosby scored twice, and right winger Phil Kessel, center Matt Cullen and right winger Patric Hornqvist had one goal each for Pittsburgh, which is on a 4-1-1 run under Mike Sullivan since starting 0-3 after Sullivan took over as coach.
Center Evgeni Malkin and defenseman Kris Letang each had three assists.
Center John Tavares and defenseman Nick Leddy -- the latter with 56 seconds left in regulation -- scored for New York, which had its two-game winning streak halted.
It was the first meeting of the season for the teams.
Pittsburgh has five goals in each of its last two games. It has scored five goals four times, with three of those times coming since Sullivan took over.
The somewhat-new line of Cullen, Malkin and Kessel produced the game's first goal.
From behind the net, Cullen flipped the puck out front. It popped off Greiss and out to near the left post, from where Kessel batted it in for a 1-0 Pittsburgh lead at 3:34 of the first period.
Crosby gave the Penguins a 2-0 lead with a power-play goal at 16:35 of the first period. Greiss stopped a rocket of a shot by Malkin, but Crosby, from near the left post, lifted the rebound over Greiss' glove for his 10th goal.
That gave Crosby points in six of his previous seven games and in 14 of his previous 19.
He didn't stop there.
Crosby added another power-play goal at 10:25 of the second period after New York left winger Matt Martin drew the Penguins' ire by boarding Pittsburgh defenseman Trevor Daley and then appearing to taunt or challenge the Penguins on his way to the penalty box.
Crosby made it 3-0 when he roofed a shot from the right dot.
That increased his career total against the Islanders to 91 points in 51 games, his most points against any NHL opponent.
Pittsburgh has scored on the power play in six of its past seven games, and Crosby's two goals put the Penguins on a nine-for-21 tear.
The Penguins drove their lead to 4-0 and chased Greiss when Cullen scored again, this time shorthanded, 32 seconds after Crosby's second goal.
That prompted Islanders coach Jack Capuano to pull Greiss and replace him with Christopher Gibson, a rookie who had not played a minute in the NHL.
Right winger Patric Hornqvist welcomed Gibson to the league with a tip-in goal to increase Pittsburgh's lead to 5-0 at 14:40 of the second.
Tavares spoiled Fleury's bid for a shutout in his return when he scored on a rebound to make it 5-1 at 15:19 of the second.
NOTES: With the return of G Marc-Andre Fleury, Pittsburgh sent rookie G Matt Murray to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League. Murray, 21, was 2-1-1 with a 1.72 goals-against average and a .938 save percentage while Fleury was out. ... Penguins C Nick Bonino played in his 300th NHL game. ... In 2015, LW Chris Kunitz was the only player to appear in all 82 Pittsburgh games. ... The Penguins scratched D David Warsovsky and LW Scott Wilson and remained without RW Beau Bennett (undisclosed injury). ... Pittsburgh plays at home Tuesday against Chicago before playing four in a row on the road. ... New York was without Gs Jean-Francois Berube and Jaro Halak and D Johnny Boychuk because of undisclosed injuries. Halak was on the ice for the Islanders' morning skate and could be getting close to a return. The Islanders scratched RW Steve Bernier, LW Eric Boulton and D Adam Pelech, who was recalled from Bridgeport of the AHL. ... The Islanders play their next two at home, starting with a game Sunday against Western Conference leader Dallas.