Penguins fall to Islanders, possibly lose Jared McCann

There was plenty to like about the Penguins’ 4-3 road loss to the New York Islanders on Saturday.

• Rookie defenseman P.O Joseph got his first career goal.

• Forward Evgeni Malkin had his first even-strength goal this season.

• The top line of Sidney Crosby, Jake Guentzel and Bryan Rust was thoroughly dominant in terms of creating scoring chances and keeping the Islanders away from the puck.

• Just the notion of playing a game after having their previous contests postponed because of covid-19 concerns elsewhere in the league was a positive development as well.

For much of the affair, the Penguins looked like the better team.

But they lost. And it really came down to a handful of crucial mistakes in the third period.

On top of that, their already maimed roster lost another player when forward Jared McCann left at 15:00 of the second period because of an undisclosed injury.

The Penguins wanted to win (and avoid even more maladies). But they came away with some satisfaction from this contest.

“It’s always in your head when you don’t put up points (in the standings),” Joseph said via video conference. “But guys are back on track. They’re doing a really good job. I think we deserved a better fate.”

The Penguins’ fate looked to be off track early when Islanders forward Jordan Eberle roofed a backhander from below the left circle over goaltender Tristan Jarry’s right shoulder on the near side for his fourth goal of the season 10 minutes, 22 seconds into regulation.

Joseph’s score at 13:43 of the first tied the score. Pushing play up to the left half wall, Guentzel drew in Islanders defenseman Andy Greene, creating ample space in the left circle. Guentzel then fed it back to an advancing Joseph, who sizzled a top-shelf wrister over goaltender Semyon Varlamov’s glove on the far side.

“That was a goal-scorer’s shot,” said Guentzel, himself no dullard on the subject. “Just a really good all-around play by him.”

Another goal by Eberle on a rebound above the crease restored a lead for the Islanders, 2-1, at 15:45 of the first period.

After Varlamov turned away several quality scoring chances, primarily from the Penguins’ top line, throughout most of the second period, the Penguins’ second line cashed in at the 19:44 mark to even the score. Malkin, forcing the Islanders into a defensive zone turnover, scored his second goal of the season with a wrister from the left circle.

The Penguins took their only lead of the contest 3:19 into the third. Off a cycle out of the Islanders’ left corner, Crosby fed a pass to the left circle where Guentzel snapped off a wrister under Varlamov’s blocker for his fourth goal.

That advantage dissipated at the 8:23 mark. Islanders forward Casey Cizikas chased down a dump-in attempt into the Penguins’ end boards with Joseph in pursuit. Letang joined Joseph and vacated the front of the cage. That allowed Cizikas to tap a quick pass above the blue paint, where forward Cal Clutterbuck jabbed a forehand shot for his first goal this season.

Another mistake led to the winning goal. After forward Teddy Blueger put a puck out of play and was penalized for delay of game, the Islanders scored on the game’s only power-play chance at 17:16 when forward Anders Lee cleaned up a leaky rebound by Jarry for his fourth goal.

Jarry finished with 22 saves on 26 shots and saw his record drop to 2-4-1.

Despite the setback, coach Mike Sullivan wasn’t totally dismissive of the result.

“I thought there was a lot of positives to take from it,” Sullivan said. “Our five-on-five play was pretty strong. I thought we got better as the game went on. We controlled a lot of the third period. We fought back from a deficit. There was a lot to like about our overall game. When you look at the third and the fourth goals (by the Islanders), I think we could have done a better job controlling circumstances so that those types of events don’t happen. That, for me, is the lesson.”