PITTSBURGH — The Islanders know 10 stunning minutes of hockey can’t take away the sting of last spring’s playoff loss to the Penguins. Still, it’s a start.
Josh Bailey’s goal with 1:40 left capped a furious third-period rally, and the Islanders edged the Penguins 4-3 on Friday night.
Bailey took a feed from Frans Nielsen in front of the net and beat goalie Jeff Zatkoff for his fourth goal of the season. The Islanders scored three times in the final 7:14 and erased deficits of 2-1 and 3-2 to win for the second time in seven games.
“It’s always satisfying against a divisional rival and a great team like Pittsburgh, and maybe a little bit added because of the playoffs,” Bailey said. “But it’s just one regular-season win. We’ll see if we can build some momentum.”
Nielsen, Matt Moulson and Pierre-Marc Bouchard also scored for the Islanders, and defenseman Radek Martinek had two assists in his season debut. Evgeni Nabokov stopped 39 shots against the team that tormented him at times during a spirited first-round playoff series.
Sidney Crosby scored his eighth goal of the season and now has an NHL-high 18 points. Jussi Jokinen and Deryk Engelland also beat Nabokov, but couldn’t stop the Penguins from losing their second straight. Pittsburgh went 0-for-5 on the power play and is 0-for-12 with the man advantage the last two games.
“We had some chances to build on our lead, and we didn’t,” Crosby said. “We made some mistakes and they made us pay.”
Zatkoff, playing in his second NHL game, made 21 saves.
Pittsburgh dominated the game’s first 50 minutes, peppering Nabokov relentlessly. The veteran hung in long enough for the Islanders’ lifeless offense to get going.
“We know even when we’re not playing our best we’ve found a way to stay in games and give ourselves a chance. That was the case tonight,” Bailey said.
The meeting was the first between the teams since the playoffs. The heavily favored Penguins survived in six games, winning the clincher on Brooks Orpik’s overtime goal.
The Penguins needed barely three minutes Friday to tie it as Jokinen beat Nabokov for his fifth goal of the season and his 12th in 20 regular-season games with Pittsburgh.
Crosby put the Penguins in front six minutes into the second period when he and Chris Kunitz broke loose for a 2-on-1 rush. Crosby’s wrist shot from the right circle found a sliver of space between Nabokov’s pad and his blocker before sneaking inside the far post.