NHL

Islanders rally late, but fall to Penguins

The Islanders found their offense after a 100-plus-minute goal drought, they just didn’t find a win.

In last night’s 4-2 loss to the Penguins at Nassau Coliseum, the Islanders were undone by their special teams, which had been a strong point. After failing on all seven power-play opportunities Sunday, the Islanders went 0-for-7 again while getting 16 of their 34 shots with the man advantage.

“I thought we tried everything,” said Mark Streit, who had 11 minutes of ice time on the power play. “It just didn’t go in tonight. Their goalie played really well. The power play has to be better.”

Coach Jack Capuano said, “We had some good looks in the first, but again it’s not good enough. When you have that many opportunities, you have to score a goal.”

Despite the wealth of chances, the Islanders could not get on the scoreboard until the third period.

After Brandon Sutter gave the Penguins a seemingly insurmountable 3-0 lead less than two minutes into the third period, the Islanders responded with two goals in 35 seconds from Michael Grabner and Brad Boyes. Matt Moulson had a chance to tie the game, but was denied by Marc-Andre Fleury’s right pad on a power play.

Pascal Dupuis added an empty-netter with 39 seconds left to seal the game.

“I thought we responded pretty good,” Capuano said. “We went out there and played pretty solid 5-on-5 game. I thought their goalie made some key saves at some key times in the game. He was spectacular on a few, and we just came out on the short end of the stick.”

The Islanders had killed off all but two power plays this season before they allowed a goal six seconds into their first shorthanded situation last night. James Neal scored off a feed from Sidney Crosby to give the Penguins a 1-0 lead on their second shot of the game.

Simon Despres beat Evgeni Nabokov in the second period to give the Penguins a 2-0 lead.

The Islanders dropped their second game in a row, and are now 1-3 on home ice. They are in the midst of playing six of eight games at home.

“We have to be tougher at home to play against,” John Tavares said. “We have to find ways to win in our own rink, especially with the opportunities that we had.”