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Penguins edge Islanders in SO for 5th straight win

Oct 28, 2011 - 4:22 AM Pittsburgh, PA (Sports Network) - Evgeni Malkin scored the lone goal in the shootout to give the Pittsburgh Penguins a 3-2 victory and a home-and-home sweep over the New York Islanders at CONSOL Energy Center.

The Penguins defeated the Islanders, 3-0, in New York on Tuesday.

Malkin managed to slide the puck under the toes of a sprawled out Rick DiPietro after the goaltender went down on a fake shot, and New York's two remaining shooters, P.A. Parenteau and John Tavares, each shot wide of the net to seal the win.

Chris Kunitz and James Neal scored third-period goals for the Penguins to send the game into overtime, while Marc-Andre Fleury made 17 saves in Pittsburgh's fifth straight win.

Evgeni Nabokov started in net for the Islanders and stopped 30-of-32 shots before DiPietro made his season debut by taking the net for the shootout.

"(Nabokov) was fatigued. He wasn't feeling well, so I had to put Rick in," said Islanders head coach Jack Capuano.

Frans Nielsen and Matt Martin notched the goals for New York, which lost its fourth consecutive contest.

Pittsburgh had a Jordan Staal power-play goal negated before the eight-minute mark of the first period when Matt Cooke set up a screen for Staal's wrister from the left circle, but bumped into Nabokov and interfered with his attempt to make the save as the puck sailed into the far side of the net.

The Islanders then took the lead later in the first. Mark Streit faked a shot from the left point and skated around a defender before sending the puck towards the net. Kyle Okposo redirected it on goal and Fleury made the initial save, but Nielsen stuffed the rebound through Fleury's legs with 1:01 left in the opening frame.

After a scoreless second period, New York added to its lead less than a minute into the third. Marty Reasoner sent a pass from behind the net to Steve Staois at the right point. Staois rifled a shot that was blocked by Fleury, but an Islander was there again to clean up the rebound as Martin poked the puck through the goaltender's legs.

But less than a minute later, Kris Letang sent a hard pass from the right point down to the side of the net, where Pascal Dupuis tipped it across the goal mouth to Kunitz and he wristed it into the open net.

"Big goal the next shift by (Kunitz)," Neal said.

Pittsburgh was then able to tie the game thanks to a Richard Park hooking penalty. After setting up in the offensive zone on the power play, Malkin sent a pass from the high right circle to Kunitz in the slot and he quickly tipped it to Neal at the side of the net, whose one-timer soared past Nabokov to knot the game at two with 15:45 left in the contest.

Islanders forward Michael Grabner's shot on a breakaway in overtime sailed wide of the net and Pittsburgh failed to record a shot on a power play in the final 35 seconds of the extra frame to necessitate the shootout.

Game Notes

Pittsburgh has won 10 of the last 12 meetings between the clubs...The Islanders have dropped 12 straight games in Pittsburgh and have not recorded a win in the Steel City since December 21, 2007...New York went 0-for-2 on the power play, while Pittsburgh went 1-for-6 on the man advantage.