4-goal third lifts Islanders over Penguins

Pierre Engvall scored the tiebreaking goal with 6:52 left Tuesday night for the New York Islanders, who mounted a multi-goal third-period comeback for the second straight game and boosted their wild card hopes with a 4-2 win over the host Pittsburgh Penguins.

With the Islanders down 2-0 after two periods, Kyle Palmieri scored 17 seconds into the third Noah Dobson tied the game at 5:34 for the Islanders (31-28-8, 70 points), who sit three points behind the Montreal Canadiens in the race for the second Eastern Conference wild card spot.

The Canadiens beat the Ottawa Senators on Tuesday. New York hosts the Canadiens in the next game for both clubs Thursday night.

The Islanders entered Sunday with just one comeback from a multi-goal third-period deficit all season. New York beat the Penguins 4-3 in a shootout Nov. 5.

Goalie Ilya Sorokin made 20 saves Tuesday.

Joona Koppanen scored his first career goal early in the opening period and Sidney Crosby doubled the lead late in the first for the Penguins (28-31-10, 66 points), whose four-game winning streak was snapped.

Tristan Jarry recorded 35 saves for the Penguins, who are seven points back of the final wild card slot.

Koppanen redirected a shot by Vladislav Kolyachonok 4:40 into the first and Crosby capped a late flurry with his 24th goal of the season with 15 seconds left in the period.

The Islanders outshot the Penguins 25-17 in the first two periods before they began their comeback. A pass off the far back boards by Penguins forward Rickard Rakell eluded Kris Letang near center ice and Palmieri collected the puck before beating Jarry on a breakaway.

Dobson and Bo Horvat exchanged the puck deep in the Penguins' zone four times before Dobson backhanded home the rebound of Horvat's backhander at 5:34.

Dobson set up the game-winner by chipping the puck in the neutral zone to Engvall, who got a step on Ryan Graves and fired a shot under Jarry's stick. Jarry was pulled with a little more than two minutes left and the Penguins didn't mount a serious threat before Holmstrom iced the win with 1:32 left to play.

--Field Level Media