Musings: Penguins Can't Find Extra Point against Islanders

Tuesday’s matchup on Long Island had playoff implications, and it felt like a playoff game. New York won in overtime, 5-4, to get within one point of Pittsburgh in the Metropolitan Division standings. The Penguins are second, and the Islanders are third.

While it was a good response from the Penguins after a tough outing at home against Ottawa on Monday, “we're at the point of the season (where) we need that other point,” Head Coach Dan Muse said.

“Especially against these guys, where things are in the standings. So, you walk away disappointed. Obviously, at the end, it wasn't quite enough. But the process, I thought our overall game was better.”

It helped that the Penguins got Bryan Rust back in the lineup after he served a three-game suspension for an illegal check to the head in Vancouver.

“He plays every situation, really, that you can imagine for this team. He does it very well,” Muse said. “He's a guy who's just heart and soul. You know what you’re going to get every single night. It’s the passion that he plays with for this team and for this organization. I can't speak enough about it.”

Rust got a huge goal at a sharp angle to put Pittsburgh up 3-2 in the second, a great response period after a tough ending to the first.

The Penguins started the game strong, a marked improvement from last night’s loss to Ottawa, where the team just didn’t have it. Egor Chinakhov drew a power play just 1:54 into play, and they got a couple of Grade-A chances, including one from Sidney Crosby. Anthony Mantha then hit the 20-goal mark just over 12 minutes in, with the big scoring forward staying hot.

But in the last two minutes, the Islanders tied it up. Stuart Skinner made a couple of stops as the Islanders had a couple of cracks, but the Penguins couldn’t clear. Team Canada Olympian Bo Horvat found the loose puck at the paint and put it over the line.

Then, with seconds remaining, the Islanders scored on a delayed penalty call. The first overall pick in the 2025 NHL Draft, Matthew Schaefer, unleashed a huge slapshot from the point for his 16^th goal of the season.

During the intermission, the Penguins relied on their leadership and experience to help them regroup. And the top line went out and set the tone. Pittsburgh got a great shift from Rust, Crosby and Rickard Rakell, and they just kept building from there.

It took less than five minutes for Chinakhov to score yet another goal. He now has eight goals in 17 games with Pittsburgh since being acquired from Columbus, and since he debuted on Jan. 1, no Penguin has more goals than him.

Then, Rust decided to go for it while below the goal line, putting the puck on net from there and fooling Ilya Sorokin, a Vezina Trophy finalist in the 2022-23 season.

“There were some notes on him that he kind of holds his glove weird on the post like that,” Rust said. “So, I was able to get it quick, and saw he wasn't set yet, so I just tried to find it.”

The third period was a wild affair.

There was a sequence where Jean-Gabriel Pageau butt-ended Crosby in the midsection off a faceoff. Crosby went down right away, clearly in pain, and skated to the bench hunched over before going down the runway. He returned shortly after.

“They said there wasn’t a penalty on the play. I definitely thought there was a penalty on the play,” Muse said. “Video showed it pretty clear. He’s not going to go down like that unless something happened. So, they missed it.”

After Mat Barzal tied it at the 8:36 mark, the Penguins responded quickly. After a beautiful setup to Mantha in the first, Justin Brazeau tacked on a goal, tipping a shot from Brett Kulak.

Just over two minutes later, Ryan Pulock’s shot found its way past Skinner, who had been screened by a teammate. When assessing Skinner’s play, Muse said they had to look at areas they can tighten up around him, and that he battled. Talking to Skinner, he put the onus on himself.

“I didn't feel like I played very well,” Skinner said. “I think the guys deserved a lot better, especially with how they worked. They always kept the lead. I definitely needed to be better for this group.”

The guys tried their best to get it back. With Rust back in the lineup, Brazeau and Mantha were able to reunite on a line with the rookie Ben Kindel. They nearly got another goal after Kindel put a backhand on Sorokin that Brazeau followed up on. It had to be reviewed to see if it crossed the goal line.

In overtime, Horvat got his second of the night on a breakaway, and the Islanders came away with two points.

“It was a back-and-forth battle,” Rust said. “I thought we fought through some adversity out there. Overall, I thought we were decent. Obviously, we'd like to clean up a few things. We definitely would have liked to have that extra point.”

The Penguins play their last game before the Olympic break on Thursday in Buffalo.