NEW YORK _ They almost gave it back in what would have been the worst loss in a season of terrible defeats.
But Anders Lee's deflection of Thomas Hickey's shot with 26.6 seconds left snapped a tie game and sent the Islanders to a 5-3 win over the Penguins at Barclays Center on Wednesday night.
The Islanders' 3-0 lead entering the third evaporated, but Lee's goal allowed them to escape with two much-needed points. Nikolay Kulemin hit the empty net three seconds later to seal the Isles' second straight win, the first time they've won back-to-back games since the fifth and sixth games of the season.
Thomas Greiss was superb through 40 minutes, stopping all 22 shots he faced and shutting down most Penguins opportunities with a stop and cover. One of the few times he had trouble controlling an initial shot it ended up in the net early in the third to start Pittsburgh's comeback.
Sidney Crosby beat Travis Hamonic to a puck that skittered deep into the Islanders' end just after the start of the period. Greiss stopped Patric Hornqvist's shot, but as Greiss tried to paddle away the loose puck, it hit off Conor Sheary's skate and went in to snap the shutout at 32 seconds of the third.
The lead dwindled to one with 9:20 left after Jason Chimera failed to get a puck out of the zone, then fell down as Justin Schultz skated down the wall, curled to the net and beat Greiss up high.
And it was gone at 13:08, when Evgeni Malkin deposited Brian Dumoulin's feed into a wide- open net off the rush, bringing the Penguins' fan contingent at Barclays Center to life.
The Islanders grabbed a 3-0 lead through two periods with a formula that opposing teams have used on them all season long: Fortunate bounces leading to goals and a string of power plays that kept the top Pittsburgh players off the ice for a long stretch of the second. Johnny Boychuk scored in the first and Chimera and Casey Cizikas scored in the second.
The Isles were unable to convert on a full two-minute five- on-three in the second while holding a 2-0 lead, awarded after the Penguins were whistled for too many men and Matt Cullen committed a faceoff violation off the ensuing draw.
Matt Murray dove to get a glove on John Tavares' wide-open try, the best of the Isles' chances on the two-man advantage. Half a minute later the Isles were back to the power play when Ian Cole threw the puck over the glass in the Penguins' end. Again, the Islanders did not score, but Crosby and Malkin were glued to the bench during the advantages.
After killing off a Penguins' power play, the Islanders extended the lead when Scott Mayfield, in the lineup for only the second time this season, jumped into the rush, took a feed from Andrew Ladd and tried to flip a pass across the slot. The puck hit Pittsburgh's Bryan Rust in the face and bounced right down to Cizikas, who beat Murray from in tight.
Mayfield figured in the Isles' second goal at 2:10 of the second. Murray turned aside Mayfield's point shot, but the rebound banked off Chimera's skate, Murray's pad and trickled over the goal line.
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