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Sillinger's goal in final minute beats Penguins

Feb 19, 2007 - 9:46 PM UNIONDALE, New York (Ticker) -- Sidney Crosby provided many of the highlights. Mike Sillinger provided the final one.

Sillinger scored with 27 seconds remaining as the New York Islanders posted an exciting 6-5 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Having recorded at least one point in each of their previous 16 games, the Penguins (14-0-2) received big games from the trio of Crosby, Mark Recchi and Ryan Malone.

Crosby collected four assists, Recchi had two goals and set up three others and Malone registered his second hat trick this season against the Islanders.

However, the Islanders showed a little more grit, overcoming a deficit in each period to improve to 2-1-0 on a critical seven-game homestand.

"It was almost like it was the hockey gods saying it as meant to be," Sillinger said with a smile. "It was a scramble and we got the last good bounce."

Sillinger, who scored the go-ahead goal midway through the third period in last Thursday's 4-1 win over Boston that opened the homestand, again came through at the right time.

In the middle of the slot, Sillinger took a pass from Andy Hilbert and used Penguins defenseman Mark Eaton as a screen before wristing a shot that trickled through goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury, sending the Nassau Coliseum crowd into a frenzy. It was Sillinger's 20th goal of the season.

"It just went off my glove," Fleury said. "Personally, I didn't do my best."

Moments before Sillinger's goal, Crosby made a bevy of moves around the Islanders' net to set up Recchi, who had his shot from the bottom of the left circle turned away by goaltender Rick DiPietro.

"(Recchi) got good wood on it, but we did a good job of collapsing down on Crosby and not allowing him to shoot," DiPietro said.

The key defensive play came from right wing Trent Hunter, who did not let Crosby out of his sight and kept him away from a scoring chance.

"That final shift was textbook defense against one of the more gifted guys to come along in a long time," Islanders coach Ted Nolan said.

The loss snapped a six-game winning streak for Pittsburgh, which was playing for the third time in four days.

"You've got to win those games," Penguins coach Michel Therrien said. "The guys surprised me with their energy, but the goalie was not good. He gave up way too many goals."

Crosby continued to pile up points against the Islanders, giving him three goals in 14 assists in six games against them this season. But he would put no blame on his goaltender.

"He had a tough night. We all have tough nights," Crosby said. "But when a goalie has a tough night, all the eyes are on him."

Chris Simon scored twice, Randy Robitaille had three assists and Marc-Andre Bergeron, acquired from Edmonton on Sunday, also set up a pair of tallies for New York, which tied Montreal and Toronto for the Eastern Conference's final playoff berth.

Simon, who had not scored in his previous 26 games, completed his first multi-goal game of the season 1:59 into the third period to tie the game at 5-5.

Malone had scored off a rebound just 48 seconds into the third period to give the Penguins a 5-4 lead.

It was the third time Malone struck quickly. He also scored 45 seconds into the game and 49 seconds into the middle session.

The goal by Malone in the second period gave the Penguins a 3-1 lead.

However, Simon and Jason Blake tallied 15 seconds apart to tie the game. Blake, the Islanders' lone All-Star representative, scored his first goal since February 1 against Atlanta, a span of nine games.

Miroslav Satan scored his 21st goal at 8:05 of the middle period to give the Islanders a 4-3 lead. But Recchi scored on the power play with 1:59 left in the session.