PITTSBURGH _ Doug Weight summed up a strange night on Thursday.
"It was a really good game, a really good point for us to get," he said. "And I'm still really (expletive) off about it."
The Islanders lost, 4-3, in overtime to the Penguins on Matt Hunwick's goal 1:29 into a zany OT that featured a couple of breakaways and Mathew Barzal and John Tavares involved in an ugly collision (both are fine).
The zaniness didn't start there, however. A 1-1 game heading to the third period turned into a 3-1 Penguins lead in a 32-second span on Phil Kessel's power-play snipe and Riley Sheahan's open-netter after a terrible puck play by Jaroslav Halak.
The Islanders got themselves together in the final five minutes of regulation, with Barzal beating Tristan Jarry at 15:07 and Brock Nelson tying the game with Halak pulled for an extra skater at 18:50. Anders Lee then beat Jarry but his shot rang off both posts with 40 seconds left in the third.
"Barzy's goal was huge, a big-time goal and we definitely fed off that," Nelson said. "Then we got a little unlucky right at the end."
Weight's anger didn't stem from needing to rally for a point, it was more at how the Islanders seemingly can't get through a penalty kill anymore. The Pens' 2-for-2 night, including Jake Guentzel's first-period deflection, leaves the Islanders having allowed eight power-play goals in the last 13 times short and is now at 73.3 percent efficiency for the season, among the worst in the league.
"We're together as a coaching staff and a team and we're going to find a way to kill one off," Weight said. "Sometimes you have to just learn it all over again."
The Islanders went 0-for-4 on their power play, which made the game all the more frustrating because they were far superior at even strength, especially in the second period. Ryan Pulock stepped around Sidney Crosby to start the play that finished with Jordan Eberle digging a puck out from under Carl Hagelin and snapping it home to tie it.
The Penguins had 26 attempts and 15 shots on Halak in the first period but just 32 and 17 on goal the remainder of the game.
In the third, Kessel wired one over Halak's shoulder at 7:29 but the deflating play came on the next shift, when Halak strolled out to the side boards to try and play the puck but gave it to Sheahan, who walked into the slot and snapped one into an open right side.
"It's two power-play goals and one bad goalie touch," Weight said. "I thought we played a real strong game, lots of communication in the D zone."
Weight jumbled his lines late and it was a Barzal-Casey Cizikas-Josh Bailey line that got things going after a bit of a lull through the majority of the third.
"I thought it started at the end of the first, we played a really good road game," Eberle said. "We fell behind but we battled back hard and got a point. Once you get to OT you want the second one but it's good to salvage the one."
