3 Takeaways: Isles Sweep Season Series from Pens with 4-3 Comeback Win

For the first time in franchise history, the New York Islanders swept the season series against the Pittsburgh Penguins, winning four games to none.
And on Thursday night, they did it in pretty dramatic fashion.
Down 3-1 entering the third period, the Islanders battled back with two goals in the final 5:29 of the third period to force overtime, where Brock Nelson completed the comeback for a 4-3 win.

"We found ourselves in this situation a few times this season, but we've been able to come up with victories," Nelson said.
Anders Lee (2G) and Hudson Fasching also scored for the Islanders, while Jake Guentzel, Jason Zucker and Josh Archibald scored for the Penguins. With the win, the Islanders (76 points) moved two points ahead of the Penguins (74 points), though Pittsburgh holds three games in hand.
They even got some help around the league, as Dallas beat Buffalo 10-4 to send the Sabres (68 points) to a third-straight loss. Washington (69 points) earned a point in a shootout loss to New Jersey and sit seven points back of the Isles with one game in hand.
With the win, the Islanders are 11-3-3 in their last 17 games overall.

ISLANDERS STAGE ANOTHER COMEBACK VS PENGUINS:

As a group, the Islanders are comfortable in uncomfortable situations - and that goes double against the Penguins.
For the third straight meeting, the Islanders rallied out of a third period deficit to upend their Metropolitan Division rivals. They rallied out of a 4-3 deficit back on Feb. 17 for a 5-4 win, and scored three straight in the third period to turn a 2-1 game into a 4-2 win on Feb. 20.
ISLANDERS 4, PENGUINS 3 OT
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KINGER'S CALLS
Lee Opens Scoring
Fasching's Wrister
Lee Ties It
Nelson's OT Winner
So while the Islanders weren't particularly thrilled with their first 40 minutes on Thursday, which saw them down 3-1 with no high-danger scoring chances at five-on-five, their belief did not waver.
"It wasn't our prettiest game of late by any means, but we battled," Lee said. "We fought for that one quite a bit. The last 20 minutes we did everything we could to right the ship and get back in that game."
And recording 13 shots in the first two periods combined, the Islanders peppered Tristan Jarry with 13 shots in the third period. Casey Cizikas - who played a career-high 21:03 - fed Fasching with a cross-ice, backdoor feed to make it 3-2 with 5:29. With the Islanders net empty, Lee deflected a Noah Dobson shot for his second goal of the game tying the score with 1:15 to play in the third.
"Down 3-1, it's definitely a big task," Lee continued. "It's not going to happen every night, but we believe in ourselves."
The Islanders' win was their eighth this season when trailing after two periods. On the flip side, the overtime loss was the Penguins fifth when leading after two periods and ninth overall.
Nelson sealed it in OT, opting to shoot on a breakaway with Jarry for his 28th of the season and career-high sixth game-winning goal. Nelson's goal followed up a Kyle Palmieri breakaway where the winger opted to deke, but Nelson said he was thinking shoot all the way with choppy ice in OT.

SOROKIN GETS FIRST NHL POINT:

Ilya Sorokin saves a lot of pucks during the game, but he might want to save one for the mantle after Thursday.
The Islanders netminder recorded his first NHL point with an assist on Nelson's OT winner. This wasn't a drop behind the net for a player to go on an end-to-end rush, but rather a consequential play, as Sorokin's active stick disrupted Bryan Rust's centering feed, sending play back the other way.

That was the cherry on top of another good night for Sorokin, as the netminder turned aside 33-of-36. It wasn't an easy night either, with the Penguins credited with 13 high-danger chances at five-on-five and 16 overall. Sorokin had to fight off a few pucks, even getting knocked over on a save in OT. It was hard to fault him on two of the three Penguins' goals, which came via deflection.
"Give him full marks for keeping us in it when he had to," Head Coach Lane Lambert said. "They go to the net hard, they tip a lot of pucks, they have really good skill level and hand eye and things like that. So it was not going to be easy night for him and I thought he battled through right until the bitter end."

LEE AND NELSON LIGHT UP PENGUINS:

No one was hotter against the Penguins this season than Lee and Nelson.
Anders Lee scored his sixth and seventh goals against the Penguins this season, finishing with eight points in four games. As for Nelson, he had nine total points (5G, 4A) in four games against the Penguins this season.
On Lee's first goal, the captain was hanging around the net, where he swatted in a Bo Horvat rebound that Jarry got a piece of, but just squeaked over the line at 5:23. That was Lee's goal 25th of the season, marking the sixth 25-goal season of his career.
"I don't know what it is, but I mean, Anders is a big time player," Nelson said. "He can score goals at crucial times and in crucial games and he's a guy that goes out there and gets it done."
Nelson recorded at least two points in all four matchups vs the Penguins this season.

NEXT GAME:

The Islanders take on the Washington Capitals on Saturday night in the first of three meetings between the teams in the final month of the season.
"Our fans have been phenomenal of late," Lee said. "We feed off of their energy. We feel that big time. So to get back in front of them with another big two points available, let's roll."
Saturday is also Bryan Trottier Legends Night and the first 10K fans will receive a Trottier bobblehead. Puck drop is at 7:30 p.m.