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Nabokov, Islanders turn away Penguins

Jan 30, 2013 - 4:32 AM Pittsburgh, PA (Sports Network) - Evgeni Nabokov turned away all but one of the 38 shots he faced on Tuesday, as the New York Islanders earned a rare win at Consol Energy Center with a 4-1 triumph over the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Matt Moulson registered a goal and an assist, while Casey Cizikas, Michael Grabner and John Tavares each scored once for the Islanders, who have won two straight in Pittsburgh after dropping their previous 13 trips to Western Pennsylvania.

"In the last few games, we've really developed an understanding of what we need to do to be successful," Tavares said of the team's power-play, which converted both of its opportunities.

Pascal Dupuis scored the lone Pittsburgh goal, while Marc-Andre Fleury was charged with all four goals on 17 shots before being pulled in favor of Tomas Vokoun to start the third.

Vokoun stopped all seven shots he faced in relief, but the offense failed to pick up the slack, as the Penguins lost for the third time in their last four games.

Cizikas opened the scoring at the 16:01 mark of the first period when he came up with a steal below the Pittsburgh goal line and carried the puck around the net before sneaking a quick wraparound inside the right post and past the outstretched pad of Fleury.

The Islanders then erupted for a trio of tallies in the second to build a four-goal advantage.

Grabner started the flurry at the 6:46 mark when he stole the puck at his own blue line and raced in on a breakaway before ripping a wrister that Fleury got a piece of, but the puck trickled across the goal line for a 2-0 edge.

New York then pushed the margin to 4-0 late in the stanza with a pair of power-play goals just under two minutes apart.

The first came when Tavares took a nice cross-ice feed from Moulson and one- timed a blast from the right circle that sailed high over the shoulders of Fleury at 15:22.

Then, just 1:53 later, Moulson came up with a loose puck in front of the net and fired a shot past Fleury for a 4-0 lead.

Dupuis' rebound goal with just over a minute remaining in the third spoiled Nabokov's shutout.

"There's no real excuse," Pittsburgh captain Sidney Crosby said of his team going 0-for-3 on the power play. "We're not executing well. If we're not going to score, we've got to at least get momentum. We weren't able to do that."

Game Notes

Pittsburgh has lost two straight home games against the Islanders for the first time since Nov. 16 and Dec. 7, 2002 at Mellon Arena ... Pittsburgh defenseman Matt Niskanen did not play and is expected to miss the next 2-to-4 weeks with a lower-body injury ... Cizikas' goal was the first of his career.