PITTSBURGH — There’s life in these Islanders yet.
Two days after taking their biggest punch of the season, the Islanders got up off the mat and delivered, snapping a three-game losing streak and beating the Penguins, 5-4, in overtime Tuesday at PPG Paints Arena, with Adam Pelech scoring the winner.
For a dressing room that appeared to be at its lowest point all year after losing to the Rangers in overtime Sunday, and with the playoff math looking worse with every loss, getting a win here was an absolute necessity.
Doing it thanks in large part to the penalty kill — a unit that has endlessly struggled all season — is icing on the cake, with a perfect 3-for-3 performance on the PK that the Isles very much need to be the start of something.
After coach Patrick Roy lost a challenge for a hand pass on Lars Eller’s goal 16:35 into the second, which cut the Islanders’ lead to 3-2, the test came as the Isles were handed a delay-of-game call.
Not only did the Isles kill it off with good stickwork and Ilya Sorokin coming up big, but they were asked to put in a repeat performance less than a minute later after Mike Reilly went off for tripping.
With the power play traversing the second and third periods, the Islanders went and did what they had to do, keeping the state of play intact and gutting through a moment that appeared designed to sink them.
Even Pierre Engvall got in on the act, blocking his 13th and 14th shots of the season on a long defensive-zone shift after the penalty expired.
The Islanders appeared to have turned the tide back in their favor when Reilly extended the lead to 4-2 at the 10:42 mark of the third.
But goals from Valtteri Puustinen and Drew O’Connor within three minutes of Reilly’s pulled Pittsburgh into a 4-4 tie and gave the Islanders into a feeling of déjà vu.
But Pelech had something to say about it, scoring in overtime to stop the Islanders from losing a third straight game in the extra period and to halt what would have been a disastrous loss right in its tracks.
The Islanders appeared to have the upper hand early in the game, but the Penguins exited the first period with a 1-0 lead after Scott Mayfield lost Marcus Pettersson, giving the Swede a free one-timer from the right circle, which he promptly converted.
That was quickly rectified by Brock Nelson, who skated right through Pettersson on his way to a backhand finish that tied the game at 3:40 of the second.
Then, after the PK earned its first successful kill of the night, Mat Barzal stepped out of the penalty box to find the puck on his stick and no defenders in sight, easily finishing off a breakaway.
Simon Holmstrom made it 3-1 at the right post at the 13:15 mark, but Eller’s shot from the high slot pulled Pittsburgh back within one, prompting Roy’s failed challenge.
Then came a test of character and will, one the Islanders have failed so many times this season in trying to hold onto leads.
Tuesday, they passed and left the building with two points just as they did exactly one year ago, when a comeback win here blunted the impact of Barzal going down with injury two days prior in Boston.
That ended up being the start of a run that would get the Islanders into the postseason.
This needs to be the same.
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