NEW YORK _ The Islanders are proving they can play with the NHL's best teams, even during stretches in games when they're not playing all that well.
And, thanks to some spectacular goaltending from Thomas Greiss, it meant a fourth straight win as the Islanders topped the Penguins, 3-2, in a shootout on Thursday night at Barclays Center to sweep the home-and-home series. The Islanders and Penguins are tied for first place (15 points) atop the Metropolitan Division.
The Islanders (7-4-1), wearing their blue alternate jerseys with the "NY" logo for the first time, opened a three-game homestand and will end a five-game stretch against divisional opponents on Saturday against the Devils.
Greiss made 29 saves for the Islanders _ including a great poke check to stop Sidney Crosby's overtime breakaway _ and then stopped Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang in the shootout. Matt Murray stopped 24 shots for the Penguins (6-2-3).
Josh Bailey scored the only goal in the shootout.
The Islanders took a 2-1 lead at 10:11 of the third period _ after starting the period skating on their heels too much _ as defenseman Thomas Hickey, on the right boards, fed the puck to the net where it banked in off Anders Lee's left skate. But Lee was called for slashing on a light tap on defenseman Jamie Oleksiak and Malkin's power-play one-timer from the right circle tied the game at 2 at 12:02.
The Islanders played eight of their first 11 games on the road but Thursday marked the start of a much more home-friendly November as they play eight of 13 in Brooklyn.
That will take them through Thanksgiving, which coach Barry Trotz said is considered the first milepost in the season to truly gauge how a team is doing. "You want to be in the mix in that Thanksgiving area," Trotz said.
Trotz, of course, expects his new team, which has missed the playoffs the past two seasons, to remain in the mix.
"I think we believe in ourselves," Trotz said. "Every night we drop the puck, we have a chance to win. We have to make sure our game has a lot of substance to it. It's not just drop the puck and see what happens. We're looking for ways to win every game and we're going to try and win every game. That's the mentality we want, home or away."
The Penguins took a 1-0 lead on Dominik Simon's power-play goal at 6:20 of the first period as he got free at the left post to knock in Jake Guentzel's rebound after Mathew Barzal hooked Phil Kessel in the offensive zone.
But the Islanders stuck to their solid defensive structure in the second period and then used a strong penalty kill to tie the game at 1.
"I think there's a sense of calmness because we have order," Trotz said. "We have a plan for everything we do, every zone, how we react in every situation."
Bailey was called for hooking the Penguins' Carl Hagelin at 12:33 of the second period, negating the Islanders' second power play just 14 seconds into it. Defenseman Adam Pelech followed with an interference call on Malkin at 13:42, meaning the Penguins eventually wound up skating five-on-three.
But Casey Cizikas blocked Letang's shot and sprung Bailey for a breakaway as he exited the penalty box, and Bailey pulled the puck to his forehand to beat Murray at 14:46 for the Islanders' third shorthanded goal of the season. It also extended Bailey's point streak to a team-high seven games.
