Parise scores late, Islanders rally past Penguins

ELMONT, N.Y. -- Zach Parise broke a tie with 2:43 remaining in the third period, and the New York Islanders rallied for a 5-4 win against the Pittsburgh Penguins at UBS Arena on Friday.

After Brock Nelson tied it 4-4 with a power-play goal at 5:01 of the third, Parise, playing his 1,200th NHL game, put New York in front when he redirected Nelson's backdoor feed.
"It couldn't have been a more fitting end," Islanders coach Lane Lambert said.

Lee and Nelson each had two goals and an assist, and Ilya Sorokin made 40 saves for the Islanders (28-23-7), who ended a three-game skid (0-1-2) and moved into a tie with Pittsburgh for the two wild cards in the Eastern Conference. They visit the Boston Bruins on Saturday.
"We all look at the standings. We knew the importance going into the game," Parise said. "We have teams that are climbing behind us with games in hand and we have teams we're trying to catch. There's just not a lot of room for error for us right now."
Rickard Rakell scored twice, and Sidney Crosby had a goal and an assist for the Penguins (27-18-9), who host the New Jersey Devils on Saturday. Casey DeSmith made 23 saves.
The teams will play again in Pittsburgh on Monday.
"Obviously the results are important, especially at this time of year," Pittsburgh coach Mike Sullivan said. "So, we want to get results. I'm disappointed that we didn't get it because I thought we played well enough to, but that's hockey. We have to regroup. We have an important one tomorrow night. We have to get ready."

Crosby gave the Penguins a 1-0 lead at 12:00 of the first period from the edge of the goal crease after Sorokin was unable to secure a wrist shot from Pierre-Olivier Joseph. It was Crosby's 25th goal of the season.
Lee tied it 1-1 with his 20th goal at 13:56 when he backhanded the puck off the chest of DeSmith, who was lying on his back.
"That's a first," DeSmith said of Lee's unconventional goal. "I thought it was under me. I guess it was on top of me."
The Penguins went back in front with two goals in 1:42 in the second period. Rakell made it 2-1 on a redirection from Jake Guentzel at 3:53, and Zucker gave Pittsburgh a 3-1 lead at 5:35 when he tipped Joseph's shot from the point.
"We definitely had our chances," Rakell said.

Nelson cut it to 3-2 when he scored on a wraparound at 14:25. He has scored four straight games and has a 12-game point streak (16 points; nine goals, seven assists).
Rakell scored again at 18:57 off a backhand feed from Crosby to make it 4-2, but Lee cut it to 4-3 just 35 seconds later with his second goal, a redirection of Mathew Barzal's wrist shot at 19:32.
"I thought for the majority of the night the team was terrific," Sullivan said. "We had a really good first period and we had a really strong second period. They got a couple opportunistic goals in the second period [that] gave them life. I thought we had tons of energy. I felt we were playing with the right intentions out there."

Nelson tied it 4-4 on a one-timer from Noah Dobson.
"It's been a while since we had a couple-goal deficits where we came back and won," Nelson said. "Taking advantage of key moments, power play being one of them. That was huge."
NOTES: Parise is the 12th active skater to play 1,200 NHL games. He has 82 game-winning goals, two fewer than Crosby and the fourth-most among active players. Washington Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin leads with 124. … It was Crosby's 41st regular-season goal against the Islanders, second-most among active players behind Ovechkin, who has 42. Crosby has 19 points (four goals, 15 assists) in his past 12 games. … Rakell has 21 goals this season, including three in the past two games.