There is potentially plenty of benefit for the Pittsburgh Penguins to meekly close out the remainder of the 2024-25 season with as few victories as possible.

Presumably, a poorer record would increase the chances of better selections in the NHL’s draft this June.

But the players on the current roster aren’t particularly motivated by that pursuit.

They just want to win the game in front of them.

No such thing happened Tuesday at PPG Paints Arena in a deflating 4-2 come-from-ahead loss to the New York Islanders.

All of the visitors’ offense came in the third period as the hosts had a four-game winning streak snapped.

While the Penguins are technically alive in the playoff race, it’s only by the most generous of audits that one could describe them as in contention for the postseason.

The Penguins needed an oxygen tank for those drowning ambitions entering Tuesday.

They wound up with a cast steel anchor through their own malfunctions.

“We just beat ourselves,” Penguins forward Sidney Crosby said. “We made some mistakes. Obviously, they’re going to push. … But there just wasn’t a lot of pushback.”

The Penguins largely stopped any pushing at the start of the third period as the Islanders roared back from a two-goal deficit in the last frame. All four of the Islanders’ goals came in the final 20 minutes they largely dominated.

“We’ve got to try to find a way to play more in their zone,” Penguins defenseman Matt Grzelcyk said. “And try to win the game, not try to not lose it. We were kind of sitting back a bit, and they kind of smelled blood in the water there. They were attacking us in waves, and we couldn’t handle it.”

Penguins goaltender Tristan Jarry started his fifth consecutive game and saw his record tumble to 12-9-4 after he stopped 34 of 37 shots.

“They were obviously putting a lot of pucks on net,” Jarry said. “They were putting a lot of traffic at the net. It’s hard to defend when they’re going to the net like that. So, maybe it caught us on our heels. And I think we have to be better at that.”

It’s hard to imagine a better start to this game for the Penguins or reserve forward Joona Koppanen, who scored his first career goal 4:40 into regulation.

Penguins forward Kevin Hayes rushed the puck up ice through the neutral zone and chipped it to the right corner, allowing linemate Boko Imama to chase it down on a forecheck. Fending off Islanders defenseman Tony DeAngelo, Imama dished a pass to the near point for Penguins defenseman Kris Letang, who then offloaded the puck to the opposite point for defensive partner Vladislav Kolyachonok. Hesitating for a moment, Kolyachonok chipped a wrister toward the cage. Stationed just below the lower left hashmark, Koppanen fought off Islanders defenseman Adam Pelech and deflected the puck by goaltender Ilya Sorokin’s blocker on the near side. Kolyachonok and Letang had assists.

Pittsburgh goal!

Scored by Joona Koppanen with 15:20 remaining in the 1st period.

Assisted by Vladislav Kolyachonok and Kris Letang.

Pittsburgh: 1New York: 0#NYIvsPIT #LetsGoPens #Isles pic.twitter.com/DQVNhalayd

— NHL Goals (@nhl_goal_bot) March 18, 2025

Koppanen, eight years into his professional career with only 10 NHL games on his resume, was recalled from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League under emergency roster conditions earlier in the day.

“Great feeling, of course,” said Koppanen, 27. “But we’re all here for a win, so can’t be too happy with that.”

The Penguins were sated with how they ended the period as Crosby scored his 24th goal of the season (and 616th of his career) at 19:45 of the first period.

After Crosby initiated a rush into the offensive zone late in the period, Penguins defenseman Connor Timmins accepted a pass above the right circle and lobbed a wrister toward the cage. Islanders forward Simon Holmstrom blocked the shot with his right leg, and the rebound caromed below the right dot where an alert Crosby immediately chopped a wrister through the skates of Islanders defenseman Scott Mayfield and Sorokin’s glove on the near side. Timmins and defensive partner Ryan Graves had assists.

Pittsburgh goal!

Scored by Sidney Crosby with 00:15 remaining in the 1st period.

Assisted by Conor Timmins and Ryan Graves.

Pittsburgh: 2New York: 0#NYIvsPIT #LetsGoPens #Isles pic.twitter.com/Fvv7j8SVZr

— NHL Goals (@nhl_goal_bot) March 18, 2025

The Islanders issued a coach’s challenge claiming goaltender interference, but officials found no such evidence of malfeasance and issued a delay of game penalty to the visitors.

On the ensuing power-play opportunity, the Penguins were unable to generate a shot. In total, they had only three shots on three sequences with the man advantage (and no goals).

Rust heaped blame onto himself for passing up an open shooting opportunity later in the second period during another power-play scenario. Instead, he forced a pass to Crosby that did not connect.

“We’re not talking about if I go five-hole,” a furious Rust said. “That makes us 1 for 3 and we’re not talking about it. It would be nice if we scored on opportunities. Myself being a big culprit of that.”

Following a scoreless second period, the Islanders fought back to claim victory. First, Kyle Palmieri scored his 21st on a breakaway only 17 seconds into the third frame.

After Letang was unable to corral a bouncing puck at the right point of New York’s zone and allowed it to slide into the neutral zone, he made a futile diving attempt to poke check it. But Palmieri claimed possession and raced into the Penguins’ zone. Approaching of the crease, he fired a wrister off the right post and the rebound bounced off Jarry’s back before entering the cage. There were no assists.

New York goal!

Scored by Kyle Palmieri with 19:43 remaining in the 3rd period.

Pittsburgh: 2New York: 1#NYIvsPIT #LetsGoPens #Isles pic.twitter.com/Lu8IkjCG6u

— NHL Goals (@nhl_goal_bot) March 19, 2025

“It hit the (stanchion) and went inside,” Letang said. “I was taking the wall away. Trying to keep it on my foot and it kicked right to the middle.”

Defenseman Noah Dobson’s eighth goal tied the game at the 5:34 mark.

Off a three-on-two rush, Islanders forward Bo Horvat gained the offensive zone on the left wing and attacked the cage from the near circle. After Horvat’s backhander was denied by Jarry’s right leg, Dobson followed up on the sequence by cleaning up the rebound with a backhanded shot of his own. Horvat and Palmieri procured assists.

New York goal!

Scored by Noah Dobson with 14:26 remaining in the 3rd period.

Assisted by Bo Horvat and Kyle Palmieri.

Pittsburgh: 2New York: 2#NYIvsPIT #LetsGoPens #Isles pic.twitter.com/dBnnx87hPC

— NHL Goals (@nhl_goal_bot) March 19, 2025

The Islanders took their first lead at 13:08 of the third via forward Pierre Engvall’s fifth goal.

As Penguins defenseman Erik Karlsson pinched in to apply pressure at New York’s center point, Dobson chopped the puck off of Karlsson’s left skate and it took something of an adventurous bounce into the Penguins’ zone. Engvall hit the afterburners to chase down the puck and claimed it in the left circle. As Graves scrambled to apply pressure, Engvall swept in a forehand shot by Jarry’s blocker on the near side. Dobson and defenseman Hudson Fasching had assists.

New York goal!

Scored by Pierre Engvall with 06:52 remaining in the 3rd period.

Assisted by Noah Dobson and Hudson Fasching.

Pittsburgh: 2New York: 3#NYIvsPIT #LetsGoPens #Isles pic.twitter.com/2rq0TkS3vK

— NHL Goals (@nhl_goal_bot) March 19, 2025

After another fruitless power-play chance for the Penguins, Holmstrom secured victory with his 16th goal on an empty net at 18:28. The only assist went to Palmieri.

Empty net goal for New York!

Scored by Simon Holmstrom with 01:32 remaining in the 3rd period.

Assisted by Kyle Palmieri.

Pittsburgh: 2New York: 4#NYIvsPIT #LetsGoPens #Isles pic.twitter.com/BhPdXwZoXe

— NHL Goals (@nhl_goal_bot) March 19, 2025

“We give up an easy goal to start the third period, and it gives them life, it gives them juice,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said. “I thought the first two periods were pretty solid. We just didn’t push back. We didn’t push back hard enough. We didn’t play the right way. We beat ourselves in so many ways in the third period.”

The Penguins have a dozen games left in the regular season. They have every intention of performing better in those contests than they did for the final 20 minutes of Thursday’s game, no matter what it might mean to the franchise’s draft fortunes.

“Obviously, the feeling (stinks after) a game we thought that we had control of then kind of let the wheels fall off there in the third,” Rust said. “We’ve just to pick ourselves up and keep moving forward.”

Notes:

• Koppanen is the 581st player to score a regular season goal for the Penguins.

• In 90 career games against the Islanders, Crosby has 137 points (43 goals, 94 assists).

• Penguins forward Philip Tomasino appeared in his 200th career game.

• Penguins forwards Emil Bemstrom (undisclosed), Thomas Novak (undisclosed) and Matt Nieto (healthy) as well as defensemen Sebastian Aho (healthy) and Ryan Shea (suspected left wrist or hand) were scratched.

• In paper transactions, Aho and Nieto were assigned to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton once the game began.

• Islanders forward Anthony Duclair appeared in his 600th career game.

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