By Chris Bradford and Andrew Chiappazzi
Beaver County Times Sports | Posted: Sunday, May 5, 2013 11:49 pm
(Photo: Seth Wenig, AP)
UNIONDALE, N.Y. -- The Penguins let a two-goal lead slip away. Again. They surrendered 35-plus shots. Again. They were careless with the puck and took too many ill-advised penalties. Again. But, hey, why pile on?
This time the Penguins were able to steal a 5-4 win in overtime. Chris Kunitz scored his second power play goal 8:43 into the extra session as the Penguins took a 2-1 lead in this tougher-than-expected series against the eighth-seeded Islanders with a wild victory at Nassau Coliseum on Sunday.
However, most everyone can agree. This is no way to go about winning hockey games let alone a playoff series.
“It’s a huge win,” said defenseman Mark Eaton. “We get home ice back and take a 2-1 lead. The fact that we didn’t play close to our best hockey and still found a way to win, we’ll take that positive spin. But, yes, there’s still areas we need to improve on.”
A better start would help.
The Penguins spotted the Islanders, feeding off the energy of their home crowd, a two-goal lead just 5:41 into the first playoff game at the archaic Coliseum in six years.
Jarome Iginla and Chris Kunitz erased that deficit with a pair of power play markers during a 19-second span in the opening period and Pascal Dupuis gave the Penguins their first lead with a minute to go.
Doug Murray pushed that lead to two with a rare goal early in the second period, but as they did in Game 2, the Penguins could not protect it.
In the third, Kyle Okposo scored on a shorthanded breakaway and John Tavares pulled New York even with 10:48 to go to force overtime.
The Penguins dominated overtime, out-shooting New York 6-2. On a rare OT power play, Kunitz netted the winner on a one-timer from the high slot on a feed from Sidney Crosby.
It was the captain’s third assist of the game.
“He put it on a tee for me,” said Kunitz, who got his first overtime game-winner. “I just had to put it on net.”
KEY MOMENT
Sidney Crosby has turned drawing penalties into an art form, and few will be bigger than the one he made an old teammate take. Crosby’s skating prowess forced Islanders D Brian Strait to grab onto him and be whistled for holding 8:11 into overtime. Crosby skated into the Islanders’ zone and drove around Strait to the net. Strait grabbed him in close quarters to slow him down, and the refs blew the whistle. Just 33 seconds later, Crosby set up Chris Kunitz for the game-winner on the power play. “That’s kind of typical of what Sidney Crosby can do,” Dan Bylsma said. “Just as a tough guy, power forward, and he draws the penalty by playing that way, playing down low and going to the net.”
HIDDEN STAT
46.2 The Penguins are 6-for-13 on the power play through three games, as the Pens have taken advantage of an Islanders penalty kill that was in the bottom third of the league in the regular season. New York killed 80.3 percent of opponent power plays, 20 spots behind league leader Ottawa’s 88 percent.
NOTEWORTHY
-- Puck possession has become a major factor in the series because of the opposite styles of play. The more deliberate Penguins had 27 combined turnovers between giveaways and Islanders takeaways on Sunday, eight fewer than the more frenetic Islanders. Many of the Pens’ turnovers have come from ill-advised passes and questionable decisions. That’s even more dangerous considering the Islanders’ speed. “When we turn the puck over, the puck comes toward our goal very quickly. Even when we have the puck, we need to think about positioning,” D Douglas Murray said. No team is going to be perfect, and a team with skilled stars like Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby will take more risks. But as forward Craig Adams said, the Pens have to be smarter. “You’re not always going to make the right choice, but if you can make the right choice most times, I think it’s going to play into our hands,” Adams said. “We need to continue to make good choices and do it more often.”
-- Dan Bylsma is still looking for the right line combinations, and he went to a few new looks in the second period on Sunday. Brenden Morrow moved up to Malkin’s line for several shifts in place of Beau Bennett, while Jussi Jokinen and Brandon Sutter swapped center roles on the third and fourth lines. Bylsma said the team as a whole is still learning how to play off each other and win together. “The last 12 games or 15 games, it’s been a different group. Some of that’s been due to new guys coming in and also the injuries we’ve had,” Bylsma said. “There is some of that learning of how to play together. I think there’s still better hockey for our team.”
-- The way Crosby sees it, if he’s going to return after a month-long hiatus, it might as well be in the playoffs. “It’s great to get into it like that,” he said. “If you’re going to get into it, get into it.” After dishing out three assists Sunday the Penguins captain said that his conditioning still isn’t where he’d like. “I’m not going to say I felt in the best shape (but) the more you play these longer games, the better you feel.”
-- Even after scoring his first career overtime time winner, two-time Stanley Cup champion Chris Kunitz still rued a misplay that led to John Tavares’ tying goal in the third period. “I didn’t put (the puck) deep, I put it wide and they moved it up and Tavares had a great 1-on-1 shot. It’s something you regret. I was just fortunate to get one back in overtime to make up for it.”
-- Paul Martin and Kris Letang logged 31:33 and 33:33 minutes of ice time, respectively. Those are season highs for both. Martin has three 30-plus minute games this year, while this was Letang’s second.
-- The Penguins improved to 14-1 when scoring five or more goal this season and they are now 6-0 in overtime games in 2013.
-- Pittsburgh has dominated the Islanders in overtime historically; the Pens now hold a 14-3 edge against New York.
-- The Pens lost the last overtime game they played. That game came on April 11, 2012 when the Flyers beat the Pens 4-3 at Consol. The Pens have played an overtime playoff game in six straight seasons.
-- The Pens are now 33-19 in Game 3s, including 21-9 on the road. The Penguins are just 23-24 in Game 4s, though 15 of those wins have come on the road.
-- Kunitz’s game winning overtime goal was the first of his career. James Neal, Pascal Dupuis, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang are the only active Pens players with OT game winners in the playoffs.
-- Sidney Crosby was the Pens best faceoff man in Game 3, winning 13 of 24 puck drops. The next closest with more than five opportunities was Brandon Sutter, who was 5 for 10. Jussi Jokinen, who got bumped up to the second line Friday because of his faceoff ability, was not as strong Sunday. Jokinen won just 4 of 11 faceoffs.
-- Having played in New York the previous two years, D Mark Eaton knows how passionate the fans here can be. “You can see how desperately they want something to cheer about,” he said. “The Islanders have given them plenty of that this year. New York has always had great sports fans and you knew the crowd was going to be loud and fired up. It was nice.”
-- Kyle Okposo’s shorthanded goal in the third period was the first by an Islander since Tom Fitzgerald, who now serves as an assistant GM with the Penguins.
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