The New York Islanders and Pittsburgh Penguins entered the season in the same position as teams trying to supplement an aging core while remaining in the thick of the race in what is traditionally the NHL’s most competitive division.
As the holiday break ends, the Islanders appear to have successfully struck that delicate balance — the Penguins have not.
The teams return to action Wednesday when New York hosts Pittsburgh in the first meeting of the season between the longtime rivals in Elmont, N.Y.
The two teams closed out their pre-Christmas portion of their schedules with significant road results Saturday. The Islanders recorded a 5-4 win over the Carolina Hurricanes, while the Penguins dropped a 5-4 decision in overtime to the Ottawa Senators.
The win continued a potentially season-saving surge for the Islanders, who have posted an 11-2-4 record since they opened 5-6-5. New York entered the holiday break in second place in the Metropolitan Division and two points ahead of the Washington Capitals and Tampa Bay Lightning, who are tied for the wild-card spots in the Eastern Conference.
New York’s hot stretch has been keyed by an atypically potent offense. The Islanders, who ranked 22nd in the NHL in scoring last season while allowing the fifth-fewest goals, have scored at least four goals in 11 of their last 17 games after doing so just twice in the first 16 games.
The Islanders have allowed 108 goals this season. The victory over the Hurricanes marked the third time this season that New York has won a game despite allowing at least four goals.
Center Brock Nelson collected a goal and an assist on Saturday to boost his point total to 30 in 33 games this season. Captain Anders Lee scored a goal and set up two others to give him 12 points (eight goals, four assists) in his last 16 games.
“We have some offense of our own,” Islanders coach Lane Lambert said Saturday night. “Do we want to go up and down? Eh, not totally. But we can go up and down.”
The Penguins have been mostly down since stringing together a five-game winning streak last month. Pittsburgh is 7-7-4 over its last 18 games, a stretch in which it has won as many as two straight games just twice.
The Penguins are in seventh place in the Metropolitan Division and five points behind the Capitals and Lightning. They had a chance to earn a third straight win Saturday as they overcame a pair of two-goal deficits before Tim Stutzle scored 70 seconds into overtime for Ottawa.
Captain Sidney Crosby remains as efficient as ever and is tied with Jake Guentzel with 35 points in 32 games this season.
“It was a big point to get and I’m glad we got back into the game the way we did,” Penguins defenseman Marcus Pettersson told The Athletic on Saturday. “But we just played poorly most of the night. We can’t keep playing like that.”
–Field Level Media
