Penguins gain in Metropolitan Division with shootout loss to Islanders

The Pittsburgh Penguins gained ground in the Metropolitan Division with a 5-4 shootout loss to the New York Islanders at UBS Arena in Elmont, New York, on Tuesday.

Jake Guentzel had two goals and an assist, and Sidney Crosby and Rickard Rakell each had two assists for the Penguins (42-22-11), who could have clinched a berth in the Stanley Cup Playoffs with a regulation win but lost for the fifth time in six games (1-4-1). Casey DeSmith made 33 saves.
Pittsburgh is third in the Metropolitan, five points behind the second-place New York Rangers, who lost 4-2 to the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday.
"I thought we competed hard in the game; we gave ourselves a chance to win," Penguins coach Mike Sullivan. "There was a lot of fight in our team. I thought the first period was our worst. I thought we got better as the game went on."

Zach Parise and Josh Bailey each scored twice, and Ilya Sorokin made an NHL career high 43 saves for the Islanders (34-29-9), who have won six of their past eight games and eight of nine at home. They are 15 points behind the Washington Capitals for the second wild card into the playoffs from the Eastern Conference.
"I was very happy with the resolve," New York coach Barry Trotz said. "It was an exciting game. You got a little bit of everything; you got some great plays, you got some great saves, you got some great penalty killing, you got a couple power plays that were going pretty good. You got a shootout. You got a pretty good game right there."
Kyle Palmieri scored the lone shootout goal in the second round. Sorokin made saves against Guentzel and Crosby before the puck rolled off the stick of Kris Letang in the third round.
Guentzel gave Pittsburgh a 1-0 lead at 5:52 of the first period. Crosby shot into the crease, and Rakell passed to Guentzel for a snap shot.
Parise tied it 1-1 on a power play with a wrist shot at 9:10, then gave the Islanders a 2-1 lead with a shorthanded goal at 12:03 set up by a cross-crease pass from Jean-Gabriel Pageau.
"There's always moments throughout a game that aren't going to go your way," Parise said. "We always talk about responding. You talk about responding after getting scored on, you talk about responding after a goal. Those are big moments in a game."
Bailey made it 3-1 at 19:22 with a one-timer on a turnover from Penguins forward Teddy Blueger.
Danton Heinen cut it to 3-2 at 3:46 of the second period, tapping in a pass from Kasperi Kapanen.
"It's a tough loss," Kapanen said. "We handed them a couple easy ones. (We have to) just kind of clean up our game. I feel like we've been making unnecessary mistakes as of late."
Guentzel tied it 3-3 with his 35th goal of the season at 18:32, skating behind the net to the high slot for a wrist shot.
Pittsburgh outshot New York 19-7 in the second.
But Bailey gave the Islanders a 4-3 lead at 2:49 of the third period on a backhand after the puck caromed past Penguins defenseman Brian Dumoulin in the corner.
"We just have to stick with it," Bailey said. "They have a great team over there and they're going to get their chances. You just have to keep pushing."

Jeff Carter tied it 4-4 on a power play at 5:38, deflecting a shot from Guentzel.
Guentzel nearly scored on a power play with 44 seconds remaining in overtime, deflecting a shot from Rakell before Sorokin made a glove save.
"You'd like to get two [points] there, especially with the power play in overtime," Guentzel said. But I think for us just to fight back, we'll take the point and try again on Thursday against them."
NOTES: The teams will play again in Pittsburgh on Thursday. … The Penguins played with 10 forwards after Bryan Rust left early in the first period and Evan Rodrigues exited midway through the second. Each had a non-COVID-19 illness. … Parise is the third Islanders player in the past 11 years to score a power-play and shorthanded goal in the same game, joining Frans Nielsen (Feb. 23, 2016) and Michael Grabner (April 6, 2011). … Pittsburgh forward Evgeni Malkin served the first of a four-game suspension for cross-checking Nashville Predators defenseman Mark Borowiecki in a 3-2 overtime win Sunday. … New York forward Casey Cizikas had three shots on goal and one block in 11:46 of ice time after serving a one-game suspension for boarding Carolina defenseman Brendan Smith in a 2-1 win Friday. … Pageau was plus-3 and won 19 of 30 face-offs (63.3 percent) in 18:44. … Penguins forward Brock McGinn had two hits and one block in 16:01 after missing 15 games because of an upper-body injury.