Penguins fall in double overtime, 1 loss away from elimination

Even though they won the East Division title — and did so partially thanks to a 6-2-0 record against the New York Islanders during the regular season — the Pittsburgh Penguins did not anticipate an easy go of things in their first-round series with the fourth-seeded Islanders.

They were fully prepared for a challenge. And boy, have they have received one.

“We’re playing against a tough opponent,” coach Mike Sullivan said via video conference. “We knew that going into it. We knew it was going to be a hard series, and here we are in the middle of it.”

After Monday’s 3-2 double-overtime loss in Game 5 at PPG Paints Arena, the Penguins are one step away from being at the end of their season.

Buoyed by a goal from forward Josh Bailey — his third of the postseason — 51 seconds into the second overtime period, the Islanders claimed victory and a 3-2 series lead.

An errant clearing attempt by Penguins goaltender Tristan Jarry was intercepted by Bailey in the offensive zone and converted into an easy game-winning goal.

Immediately after the defeat, the Penguins professed support and belief in their goaltender.

“He’s going to bring his A game (in Game 6),” defenseman Kris Letang said. “We’ll go in there and try to win that game.”

Game 6 is slated to be staged Wednesday at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Uniondale, N.Y., rarely a comfortable venue for the Penguins, particularly in the spring.

Even with an unappetizing result in Game 5, the Penguins expressed satisfaction in how they played. By any measure, they dominated puck possession, outshooting the Islanders, 50-28. A gallant effort by Islanders goaltender Ilya Sorokin, who made 48 saves, stymied a constant barrage by the Penguins’ typically dynamic offense.

“We played well tonight,” forward Bryan Rust said. “Obviously, we would have liked to get another puck past their goalie. We’ve got to give him credit. He played well. For us, we did a lot of good things. There were obviously some breakdowns in there that we can learn from and some areas we can get better. But I think we were playing on our toes tonight. We had a lot of good looks. We’ve just got to try to carry that attitude and game into (Game 6).

The Penguins took a lead 8:20 into regulation when forward Evgeni Malkin recorded his first goal of the postseason — and first since March 15 — with a power-play score.

Late in the first period at the 19:05 mark, the Islanders took advantage of a defensive miscue by the Penguins’ top pairing of Letang and Brian Dumoulin and tied the game. With each Penguins defenseman pinching in aggressively, Islanders forward Anthony Beauvillier was able to take advantage of Penguins forward Jake Guentzel in a one-on-one battle and collected his second goal by putting a wrister over Jarry’s blocker.

At 7:37 of the second, the Penguins reclaimed a lead 2-1 when Rust scored his second goal with a one-timer from the right point.

Another defensive faux pas by Dumoulin allowed the Islanders to tie the score again, 2-2, at 8:50 of the third period. Under pressure by forechecking Islanders forward Jean-Gabriel Pageau, Dumoulin lost the puck on his own end boards. Islanders forward Leo Komarov claimed it and fed a pass to the front of the slot for linemate Jordan Eberle. Getting Jarry to scramble out of position, Eberle was able to lift a wrister into the cage for his second goal.

Jarry made 25 saves on 28 shots in a loss that put the Penguins at the edge of elimination and an uncertain offseason.

“We’ve got to put (Game 5) behind us,” Sullivan said. “We’ve got to look for the next one. We’ve got to win one hockey game. That’s the way I look at it. That’s what I said to the players after the game. We have a lot of leadership that has been through a lot of experiences in this league, especially in the playoffs. We’ll just keep this thing in perspective.

“We’ll go to (Long Island), we’ll put our best game on the ice.”