Great night: Pens beat Islanders at home and in overtime
PITTSBURGH (AP) – The Pittsburgh Penguins hadn’t won an overtime game all season. Or beaten the New York Islanders at home in almost two years. Saturday night, they did both.
Martin Straka scored his first regular-season overtime goal 42 seconds into the extra period to give the Penguins a 3-2 victory.
“We have been having trouble this year getting that overtime goal, and tonight we finally got it,” said Pittsburgh coach Rick Kehoe, whose team is 1-5-3 in overtime this season.
The Penguins also snapped a five-game home winless streak against the Islanders, who hadn’t lost in Pittsburgh since Feb. 25, 2001. New York, which lost for the first time in overtime this season (3-1-5), had a five-game winning streak snapped.
A long pass by Pittsburgh defenseman Marc Bergevin created a two-on-one for Straka and defenseman Michal Rozsival against defenseman Kenny Jonsson. Straka’s shot from the bottom of the left wing circle barely trickled past goalie Garth Snow.
“I tried to get it to Rozsival, but he wasn’t open. So I made a move, and luckily I put it in the net,” said Straka, whose 12th goal of the season was his first in 639 career regular-season games, including 501 with the Penguins.
Snow, who stopped 15 of 16 shots after replacing starter Chris Osgood after the Penguins forged a 2-0 lead in the first period, was making his first appearance since Dec. 14.
“It was a breakdown to give them a two-on-one from the red line in,” Snow said. “Kenny played it great. He took away the pass and cut the ice in half. But if you give a great player a breakdown like that, sometimes they’re going to make great plays.”
New York’s Mark Parrish and Arron Asham scored goals 31/2minutes apart late in the second period to tie it at 2.
Parrish began the New York comeback with his fourth goal in two games, deflecting Jonsson’s wrist shot past goalie Johan Hedberg on a power play with 4:26 left on the second period. The power play was created by a high-sticking penalty to Hedberg.
Asham tied it with 1:02 left in the second period when he drove to the goal on the left wing and converted Michael Peca’s pass for his sixth goal of the season.
Mario Lemieux scored his first goal in five games and 19th of the season at 8:29 of the first period when he sneaked behind Asham in the left wing circle to convert Alexei Kovalev’s pass.
Rookie Michal Sivek made it 2-0 with 25 seconds to play in the period when he stopped Roman Hamrlik’s clearing attempt at the left point, cut to the bottom of the left circle and beat Osgood with a backhander.
“We really needed these points against the Islanders,” Pittsburgh center Kent Manderville said. “You hate to give up a 2-0 lead, but it’s nice the way we responded. We realize these two points are just as important as two points we get in March or April.”
NOTES: The last time New York won six consecutive games was December 1993. . . The Islanders have killed 25 consecutive penalties. . . Lemieux has three goals in three games against the Islanders this season and 125 points in 67 career games against New York. . . Defenseman Adrian Aucoin had two assists for the Islanders. . . Snow made his first appearance since Dec. 14. . . Pittsburgh defenseman Dick Tarnstrom, playing just his third game after returning from a broken foot, left the game early in the second period with a strained hamstring.