NEW YORK _ There's just a different energy in the old barn, which is now 2-for-2 in sellouts since the Islanders returned home.
But the other common denominator of the Islanders' two regular-season games at cozy NYCB Live's Nassau Coliseum is that they've been tense, well-played, evenly-matched contests with just the right amount of physicality that easily lead to engaged, loud crowds.
The Penguins won Monday night's nail biter, 2-1, in a five-round shootout before 13,917 fans. Robin Lehner made 23 saves for the Islanders (14-11-4), who could not convert on an overtime power play. During that man advantage, Penguins goaltender Casey DeSmith (25 saves) played a good chunk of the time without his stick.
Jake Guentzel scored the deciding shootout goal after the Islanders' Josh Bailey had kept his team alive in the third round.
Monday marked the second of 21 home games the Islanders will play at the Coliseum, which served as their home from 1972-2015. They made a triumphant and emotional return to the venerable arena with a 3-2 win over the Blue Jackets on Dec. 1 before a raucous sellout crowd.
"We're going to need all their support and energy like they had the other night in the first game back," Islanders coach Barry Trotz said before the game.
The Islanders played down the stretch without Cal Clutterbuck after he and Penguins defenseman Kris Letang exchanged hits at 12:29 of the third period. Defenseman Thomas Hickey also took Evgeni Malkin's power-play one-timer to his ear but returned to the ice four minutes later.
Lehner stopped the first 19 shots he faced before Derick Brassard tied the game at 1 at 2:13 of the third period off a scramble at the Islanders' crease after Mathew Barzal could not control defenseman Adam Pelech's drop pass along the left boards in the offensive zone.
Lehner made his first start since stopping 35 shots in a 2-1 shootout loss at Boston on Nov. 29. He served as Thomas Greiss' backup in Saturday night's 3-2 win at Detroit but was unable to dress the previous two games because of a non-specified tweak.
The Islanders lost, 6-2, at Pittsburgh on Thursday in a game in which they lacked intensity and were substandard in every phase.
"We weren't as sharp and we weren't as engaged as we'd like to be," Trotz said. "I'd put that up to one of 82 (games) and you're going to have a couple of those."
But they concluded their two-game road trip by responding well against the Red Wings, both after falling into a two-goal deficit in the first period and when captain Anders Lee was forced to miss time after suffering facial lacerations on a first-period shoulder check from defenseman Niklas Kronwall.
The Islanders' performance was clearly a carryover of Saturday's game, not Thursday's dud.
The Islanders took a 1-0 lead at 6:32 of a very strong second period for them as Barzal grabbed the puck at the Penguins' blue line off Brassard's turnover and started a tic-tac-toe sequence. Josh Bailey, in the left circle, found Anthony Beauvillier open in the right circle for the one-timer just off a lunging DeSmith's glove.
The Islanders were unable to capitalize on three, first-period power plays, mustering just three shots.
But they allowed just two shots after Lee drew a four-minute high sticking penalty against Guentzel in the offensive zone at 16:00 of the first period. Lehner stopped Phil Kessel from below the left circle at 19:29 and DeSmith stopped Brock Nelson as he got to the crease for the feed from Matt Martin on a two-on-one shorthanded rush with 5.8 seconds remaining.
