Penguins falter late as Islanders take 2-0 series lead

UNIONDALE, N.Y. — In the rafters hang the numbers of some of the game’s all-time greats: Bossy, Potvin, Trottier, Smith.

On the other side of the ice stand some of the most decorated players in today’s game: Crosby, Malkin, Kessel and Letang.

Through two games of a first-round playoff series between the New York Islanders and Pittsburgh Penguins, top-six forwards Jordan Eberle, Mathew Barzal and Josh Bailey are living in the shadow of none of those famous names.

They’re scoring gigantic, clutch, tiebreaking goals, and they have their Islanders halfway to sending the Penguins to an early offseason.

Eberle scored the winning goal with about 12 minutes left in the third period, leading the Islanders to a 3-1 victory in Game 2 Friday night.

The series shifts to PPG Paints Arena for Game 3 on Sunday afternoon. It will be a de facto must-win game for the Penguins.

GAME 2 POSTGAME POLL: We'll keep this simple. How's this gonna go after the #Isles took the first two from the #Pens?

— Tribune-ReviewSports (@TribSports) April 13, 2019

“They’ve got some skilled players, obviously,” defenseman Justin Schultz said. “Everyone in this league does. We’ve got to learn from it. They took care of business here. We’ve got to go home and take care of our business.”

After a 4-3 loss on an overtime goal by Bailey in Game 1, the Penguins said they needed to better handle the adrenaline-fueled surge the Islanders would undoubtedly throw at them in the first few minutes of the game and better deal with the pressure they would surely apply with a fierce forecheck.

They improved in both areas to a degree. They kept the Islanders at bay in a scoreless first period, and their defensemen didn’t make glaring mistakes in the face of onrushing forwards.

But when the game was on the line, just like in the series opener, the Penguins were the team making the costly mistakes and the Islanders were the team capitalizing.

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On the winning goal, Evgeni Malkin couldn’t handle a Patric Hornqvist pass in his skates, leading to a neutral-zone turnover. Barzal passed ahead to Eberle, who danced around a diving Schultz and fired a backhand shot inside the far post.

“I thought a guy was there backdoor and tried to slide to take that pass away,” Schultz said, referring to Anders Lee, who was barging to the far post. “(Eberle) made a good play. I could have probably been a little tighter and taken away that shot too, but not much you can do now.”

The Penguins took their first lead of the series when Malkin worked a puck through the neutral zone and made a deflected centering pass to Erik Gudbranson for a shot from the blue line past a Hornqvist screen to make it 1-0 in the second period.

“They’re one of the best shot-blocking teams in the league,” Gudbranson said. “We have to get it through, and we have to have a net presence. We have to be a bad goalie in front of him. I think he’s seeing a bit much so far. We can definitely change that.”

It was a rare moment where the Penguins were dangerous in the offensive zone.

Sidney Crosby and his linemates spent less time defending than they did in Game 1, but the Islanders largely kept them under wraps.

Seriously blunting their attempts at generating offense, the Penguins went to the penalty kill six times in the game. Jack Johnson, who returned to the lineup in place of Olli Maatta after being a healthy scratch for Game 1, took two of the penalties.

“I think we just got into penalty trouble,” said Gudbranson, who took a high-sticking minor in the second period, giving the Islanders 54 seconds of five-on-three time.

“We couldn’t get any momentum going. We can obviously sit here and say there were a couple of questionable ones. There were some that could have gone our way as well. We can’t control that, but I do think it had an effect on us creating momentum. Once we tilt the ice, it’s hard for us to stop. We gave them energy that way.”