Lee's goal with 26.6 seconds left lifts Islanders
NEW YORK -- Anders Lee scored the tiebreaking goal with 26.6 seconds remaining in the third period Wednesday night as the New York Islanders avoided a disastrous collapse by edging the Pittsburgh Penguins 5-3 at Barclays Center.
The Islanders led 3-0 entering the third before Conor Sheary, Justin Schultz and Evgeni Malkin scored in a span of a little less than 13 minutes for the Penguins. But Lee redirected a shot by Thomas Hickey -- who scored in overtime of Monday's 2-1 victory over the Calgary Flames -- and Nikolay Kulemin scored an empty-netter off the subsequent faceoff as the Islanders (8-10-4) won back-to-back games for the first time since Oct. 21-23.
Johnny Boychuk, Jason Chimera and Casey Cizikas also scored for the Islanders while goalie Thomas Greiss made 31 saves.
Matt Murray recorded 25 saves for the Penguins (13-7-3), who have lost six of 10 (4-5-1).
Sheary began the Penguins' comeback by scoring 32 seconds into the period when he put back a rebound of a shot by Patric Hornqvist. Schultz scored with 9:20 remaining when his shot sailed through a pack of four players in front of the net and under Greiss' right arm. The Penguins tied the score with 6:52 left, when Malkin poked the puck into the open left corner of the net as Greiss was caught leaning to his right.
The Islanders went ahead in the waning moments of the first period, when Boychuk corralled a loose puck along the boards behind the right faceoff circle and fired a sizzling slap shot. Defenseman Brian Dumoulin tried to block the shot but could not as it ended up sailing past Murray.
The Islanders wasted little time doubling the lead during a frantic sequence early in the second. Murray deflected a shot by Scott Mayfield, but the puck bounced to Murray's right and ticked off the skate of Chimera and trickled into the net before Murray could push it out.
Greiss preserved the shutout with 6:26 left in the second, when he got a piece of a point blank shot by Jake Guentzel.
Cizikas capped an impressive rush by the Islanders by making it 3-0 with 2:39 remaining in the period. Cal Clutterbuck reached out for a loose puck in the Penguins' zone and passed to Cizikas, who eventually stationed himself to the left of Murray. Cizikas got a piece of Mayfield's shot and the puck fluttered into the upper corner of the net.
NOTES: The Islanders scratched D Adam Pelech (upper body), G Jaroslav Halak and C Alan Quine. The scratch was the second of the season for Halak. Third-string G Jean-Francois Berube served as the backup for the 13th time this year. ... Islanders C Ryan Strome returned to the lineup after being a healthy scratch the last two games. D Dennis Seidenberg (broken jaw), who missed the last seven games, continues to work out with the team but isn't expected to return until at least this weekend. ... The Penguins scratched D Steve Oleksy, LW Tom Sestito and C Scott Wilson. ... Penguins RW Patric Hornqvist started in his return after a six-game absence because of a concussion. LW Chris Kunitz (lower body) missed his fifth straight game.