The Islanders entered their game Saturday night at PPG Paints Arena as the NHL's stingiest team.
They didn't leave it that way.
Turns out that spotting your opponent a five-goal lead before the middle of the second period is no way to hold down the swelling in your goals-against average.
Not that anything that transpired during the Penguins' 6-3 victory necessarily should have shocked their opponent.
Oh, the Islanders probably didn't anticipate surrendering a half-dozen goals -- after all, that matched the most it has given up in a game this season -- but these teams are deep enough into their season series that New York coach Barry Trotz and his players surely realize that they cannot consistently stifle the Penguins' offense they way they do to most teams.
Even when the Penguins are playing without their entire second line of Evgeni Malkin, Jason Zucker and Kasperi Kapanen.
New York is giving up an average of just 2.31 goals per game, the third-lowest figure in the league.
Of course, that's up a full tenth of a point from where it was going into the game, at which time the Islanders owned the NHL's lowest average.
Impressive as those numbers are -- and make no mistake, they reflect New York's team-wide commitment to playing good defense -- they'd be a lot better if New York didn't have to play the Penguins. Fact is, the Penguins have scored three or more goals in six of their seven games against the Islanders so far in 2020-21, and have gotten four or more in four of those.
Remove games against the Penguins from New York's schedule, and the Islanders' goals-against average would be so small that you might need an electron microscope to see it.
The Penguins' ability to score so often against New York is the primary reason they hold a 5-2 lead in the season series, which concludes with a game at PPG Paints Arena Monday night.
Their success in head-to-head meetings explains why they are just two points behind the Islanders in the East Division, who share the top spot with Washington. Coincidentally enough, the Penguins also are 4-2 against the Capitals, which means they've fared quite well against the clubs they're trying to overtake.
The Penguins' respect for New York and Washington is obvious -- "They're really good teams," Mike Sullivan said. "They're two of the better teams in the league" -- but so is their lack of fear about facing them, even with a lineup that's been diluted by injuries most of this season.
It helps when you have a No. 1 line like the one Sidney Crosby centers for Jake Guentzel and Bryan Rust, a unit whose members contributed four goals to this victory and who have been the team's primary source of offense for much of the season.
"They understand the circumstance and they know how much we rely on them to help us win games," Sullivan said. "They lead the charge. They set the tone for the attitude of the team when we're going out to play every night. No one's looking for excuses. We all have an expectation that we're going to go out and we're going to win hockey games. They're leading through their example, first and foremost."
The example they set most often Saturday was how to celebrate goals, as Crosby scored the Penguins' third and Rust accounted for Nos. 4-6, giving him his fourth career hat trick.
Rust's third goal ranks among his easiest as a pro -- he scored it from close range, into an empty net with 41.1 seconds left in regulation -- but he'd paid for it in advance with a few extra pints of stomach acid.
That's because the Penguins were leading, 5-2, and on a power play at 17:12 of the third period, when Rust was penalized for elbowing.
Islanders winger Jordan Eberle scored during the resultant four-on-four just 21 seconds later, which meant New York could have pulled within a goal if it had scored during the power play that resulted from Rust's minor.
"It was definitely really nerve-wracking," Rust said.
Understandably so, but the penalty-killers turned in their 17th consecutive kill -- a streak spanning five games -- and Rust stepped out of the penalty box just in time to collect an errant New York pass in the neutral zone and escort the puck to within a few feet of the crease before putting it into the net.
"I come out of the box and I get a gift right on my tape," he said.
The Penguins had to work harder for their other goals, but they sometimes made it look awfully easy.
Like when Colton Sceviour deflected a pass to Sam Lafferty in the neutral zone -- "He couldn't have put it in a better spot for me," Lafferty said -- after which Lafferty carried the puck into the New York end before sliding a pass to Frederick Gaudreau, who rifled a shot past Islanders goalie Ilya Sorokin from below the right hash.
"Just a great goal," Lafferty said.
The first of several, as it turned out.
And so the Penguins, despite all the adversity through which they've had to slog this season, can pull even with the Islanders if they can defeat them in regulation Monday.
"That was a really big win for us," Lafferty said. "Obviously, we're chasing them in the standings and they're a really good team. They play the game hard. They defend hard. You don't get many odd-man rushes against them. We know that every game against the Islanders is going to be a battle."
True enough. Of course, the Penguins also have reason to be confident they can score as many goals as they'll need to win.
After all, they've already done it five times this season.
MORE FROM THE GAME
• The Penguins' power play scored on two of four chances, making it 4-for-8 in the past two games. "The power play has really gained a lot of traction here over the last little while," Sullivan said. "They're scoring goals for us. They've been a difference in a lot of games. Their confidence certainly has improved because of that."
• Sorokin, who stopped just one of the Penguins' three shots in the first period, was replaced by Semyon Varlamov after allowing four goals on nine shots.
• Evan Rodrigues scored the Penguins' second goal, his second in three games, when he beat Sorokin with a harmless-looking wrist shot from the top of the left circle.
• Shorty before the game, forwards Brandon Tanev and Mark Jankowski were added to the league's COVID-19 protocol list.
• It almost gets to be redundant, but Crosby again was the top-performing Penguin on faceoffs, winning 15 of 24.
• The Penguins were outshot, 31-21, with Rust (5) and Kris Letang (3) the only guys to register more than two shots.
• New York center Mat Barzal's second-period goal was his first in 11 games, a remarkable dry spell for a player with his speed and skill.
THE ESSENTIALS
THE THREE STARS
As selected at PPG Paints Arena:
1. Bryan Rust, Penguins
2. Sidney Crosby, Penguins
3. Jake Guentzel, Penguins
THE INJURIES
• Winger Brandon Tanev is day-to-day with an unspecified upper-body injury.
• Center Evgeni Malkin is "week to week" because of an unspecified lower-body injury sustained March 16.
• Forward Jason Zucker is out "longer term" with an unspecified lower-body injury sustained Feb. 23, but has been skating..
• Center Teddy Blueger is out "longer term" with an unspecified upper-body injury sustained March 15, but is skating.
• Defenseman Mark Friedman is day-to-day with an unspecified upper-body injury sustained March 4, but has been skating.
THE LINEUPS
Sullivan’s lines and pairings:
Jake Guentzel-Sidney Crosby-Bryan Rust
Zach Aston-Reese-Jared McCann-Evan Rodrigues
Colton Sceviour-Frederick Gaudreau-Sam Lafferty
Drew O'Connor-Radim Zohorna--Anthony Angello
Brian Dumoulin-Kris Letang
Mike Matheson-Cody Ceci
Marcus Pettersson-John Marino
And for Barry Trotz's Islanders:
Leo Komarov-Mathew Barzal-Jordan Eberle
Anthony Beauvillier-J-G Pageau-Oliver Wahlstrom
Josh Bailey-Brock Nelson-Kieffer Bellows
Matt Martin-Casey Cizikas-Cal Clutterbuck
Ryan Pulock-Adam Pelech
Nick Leddy-Andy Greene
Scott Mayfield-Thomas Hickey
THE SCHEDULE
The Penguins are scheduled to practice Sunday at noon at UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex before completing their season series with the Islanders Monday, 7:08 p.m., at PPG Paints Arena.
THE CONTENT
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