NEW YORK - Anders Lee scored the tiebreaking goal in the third period, Jaroslav Halak stopped 31 shots before leaving late in the third period and got his 200th career victory and the surging New York Islanders beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 2-1 Tuesday night.
Halak left the game with 4:22 left with a possible injury. Thomas Greiss replaced him and stopped all three shots he faced. Halak, in his second season with the Islanders, improved to 200-115-37 in his career.
John Tavares scored in the first period for the Islanders, who improved to 11-2-1 in their last 14 games in their first time back at Barclays Center since Feb. 18. New York was coming off a 6-1-0 trip that ended with 6-4 win against the crosstown-rival Rangers on Sunday.
Kris Letang had the Penguins' goal and Marc-Andre Fleury finished with 25 saves.
The Penguins, holding the first wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference, had won four of their last six but fell five points behind the Islanders for third place in the Metropolitan Division.
Just 20 seconds after the Penguins' Matt Cullen was sent off for cross-checking, the Islanders got their second power-play goal of the game. Frans Nielsen sent the puck from behind the goal line to Nick Leddy, and the defenseman fired a shot through traffic that Lee tipped from in front for his 12th of the season at 8:55.
The Islanders won their fourth straight overall, improved to 5-0-1 in their last six at home and remained three points behind the Rangers for second place in the Metropolitan.
“We’re fighting to keep climbing up the standings. Each point is crucial, each game is crucial.” -@91Tavares pic.twitter.com/h9dGmdGpZT
— New York Islanders (@NYIslanders) March 9, 2016
The Islanders, on their second power play of the game early in the third period, had a chance about 12 seconds into that man-advantage, but Fleury stopped Tavares' snap shot from the left side.
The Penguins outshot the Islanders 12-8 in the first and 11-9 in a fast-paced, scoreless second period.
Pittsburgh had a power play in the second when Leddy was whistled for cross-checking Patric Hornqvist, but Halak stopped all three shots during the Penguins' advantage - including slap shots by Letang and Phil Kessel.
Fleury made a nice save on Casey Cizikas from in close late in the middle period.
Halak had two nice pad stops early in the game, first on Kessel in the opening minute and then on Evgeni Malkin about 3 1/2 minutes in.
Tavares got the Islanders on the scoreboard first with his 24th of the season. Just 9 seconds after Hornqvist was sent off for hooking Nikolay Kulemin, Tavares took a pass from Leddy and fired a shot from the top of the right faceoff circle past Fleury 8:04 into the game. It was Tavares' 198th career goal and first after a five-game drought.
The teams were skating 4-on-4 after Malkin and the Islanders' Travis Hamonic were both whistled for roughing with about 7 1/2 minutes left in the first period when they dropped gloves and briefly fought.
The Penguins took advantage of the open ice, as Letang took a pass from Sidney Crosby near the blue line, skated through the right faceoff circle and fired the puck into the top right corner of the goal past Halak's glove with 6:47 to go for his 12th of the season. Crosby got his 38th assist and 66th point, both team highs.
NOTES: Tavares has nine goals and 21 points in his last 16 games. ... The Islanders were without Calvin de Haan for the second straight game due to a lower-body injury. ... New York F Brock Nelson played in his 199th consecutive game and F Anders Lee his 140th straight. ... Shane Prince, acquired from Ottawa at the trading deadline, and rookie Ryan Pulock made their home debuts for the Islanders. ... The Penguins won the teams' first meeting, 5-2 at home on Jan. 2. The teams have two more games remaining, March 15 at Pittsburgh and April 2 back here. ... Crosby has three goals and seven assists in his last six games. ... The Penguins were playing the second of nine straight against division foes, after opening the stretch with a 6-1 win at New Jersey on Sunday.
- With files from theScore
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James Reimer turned away all 31 Edmonton Oilers shots to pick up his first shutout as a member of the San Jose Sharks in a 3-0 win Tuesday.
For the former Toronto Maple Leaf, the goose egg was his first shutout of the season and first since Oct. 29, 2013 - also against the Oilers.
The 27-year-old rebounded from a mediocre first appearance with the Sharks that saw him allow three goals on 25 shots in a 4-2 loss to the Vancouver Canucks.
Forward Logan Couture led the way offensively for San Jose with two goals as the team moved within a win of the Los Angeles Kings for second in the Pacific Division.
Related: VIDEO: Sharks' Couture nets easy tap-in on oblivious Talbot
The Sharks will be back in action Thursday against the New Jersey Devils, when they'll look to push their win streak to three games.
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The Montreal Canadiens snapped a four-game losing streak Tuesday thanks to the inspiring play of Alex Galchenyuk.
The 22-year-old scored twice, including the overtime winner. He also added an assist as the Canadiens got by the Dallas Stars 4-3.
The game proved to be another showcase of one of the club's lone achievements this season. With his three-point effort Tuesday, Galchenyuk is now tied with captain Max Pacioretty for the team lead with 23 goals - a career high - and 44 points, just two shy of his career mark.
Galchenyuk has been on an incendiary pace while his club continues to struggle without No. 1 goalie Carey Price. The team has dropped four of its last five games and sits seven points outside of the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
However, Galchenyuk has not slowed down. With a pair of goals Tuesday, he now has four multi-goal games in his last seven contests. His offensive production has been key for the Canadiens as his nine goals make up 45 percent of the team's total output in the last seven games.
Arguably the biggest catalyst for the growth in Galchenyuk's game appears to be the confidence head coach Michel Therrien has shown in the youngster.
Galchenyuk entered the season finally getting a chance to play center, his native position, after being used largely as a winger early in his career. Things have since changed with him now occupying the team's top trio.
Michel Therrien has no regrets in terms of not putting Galchenyuk back in the middle earlier. Says he's a completely different player now.
— Аrpon Basu (@ArponBasu) March 9, 2016
Meanwhile, Galchenyuk took to the ice for 19:10 of ice-time on - second amongst the team's forwards behind only Pacioretty.
The Canadiens are far from being the team that took to the ice last season, but best be sure that Galchenyuk is also not the same player he once was.
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Carolina Hurricanes forward Jeff Skinner spoiled the party for the Ottawa Senators when they were less than a second away from victory Tuesday.
Skinner fired home his second goal of the game with just 0.3 seconds remaining on the clock to knot the game 3-3, setting the stage for defenseman Jaccob Slavin's shootout winner to complete the 4-3 comeback win.
Skinner hit the 25-goal mark for the third time in his career with the two markers while moving the Hurricanes within four points of the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
Meanwhile, anyone expecting a Cinderella-type surge like the one the Senators achieved last season is quickly being let down. With Tuesday's loss, Ottawa's dropped four of its last five games and has fallen behind Carolina in the standings.
The Senators will look to get back on track when they take on the Florida Panthers on Thursday, while the Hurricanes look to ride the momentum into Boston for their tilt against the Bruins.
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