Pens beat the Islanders 3-2 in a shootout!
PITTSBURGH (AP) – Evgeni Malkin was just as surprised as everyone else outside of the Islanders’ bench when New York replaced goalie Evgeni Nabokov at the end of overtime.
Malkin knew exactly what he was going to do against Rick DiPietro in the shootout, and he allowed the Pittsburgh Penguins to extend their recent mastery over the Islanders.
Malkin’s shootout goal capped a rally from a two-goal deficit in the third period and Pittsburgh won its fifth consecutive game, 3-2 over the Islanders on Thursday night.
“It was a surprise for me and the whole team,” Malkin said about the Islanders swapping out goalies for the shootout after Nabokov had stopped 30 of 32 shots. “Nabokov played a great game.
“When I saw DiPietro, I knew I would do my good move. It was a surprise, he fell down. It was a lucky goal.”
Pittsburgh’s second shooter, Malkin walked in, made multiple dekes in close while avoiding a pole check and slid the puck under a sprawling DiPietro with his backhand.
Chris Kunitz and James Neal scored 2:46 apart early in the third period less than a minute after Matt Martin gave the Islanders a 2-0 lead.
Frans Nielsen had a first-period goal for New York, which has lost four in a row overall and hasn’t won in Pittsburgh in almost four years. – Continue Reading the Recap
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