Penguins Down Islanders Despite Hogberg’s Brilliance

PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Penguins (17-16-5) exacted revenge and downed the New York Islanders (14-16-7) 3-2 Sunday evening in PPG Paints Arena. Once again, the Islanders’ special teams absolutely let them down. The anemic penalty kill allowed two more power-play goals. The man advantage resulted in missed opportunities and momentum building for the Penguins. Old friend Anthony Beuavillier started the party in the first for the Penguins. Later, Sidney Crosby made history, passing Mario Lemieux for the most assists in the Penguins’ history on Michael Bunting’s second-period power-play goal. Phillip Tomasino stuck the dagger in the Islanders with his power-play goal, which banked off Alexander Romanov. Marcus Hogberg sparkled in his first NHL game since April 28, 2021. Quite frankly, the entire team left him out to dry. He’s the only reason this game didn’t become 7-0. After only facing six shots in the first period, he faced 21 in the second period and only allowed one goal. In total, he made 38 saves. Islanders’ Head Coach Patrick Roy specifically praised Hogberg, calling him “fantastic.” Alex Nedeljkovic made 29 saves in the win for Pittsburgh.

First Period:

After a sleepy start, Hogberg made a pair of nice pad stops, including one on Evgeni Malkin. However, the team in front of him started sloppy with bad passing and inefficient neutral zone play.

Just 3:54 in, the Penguins struck first when Beauvillier, all alone in front, smacked home a Michael Bunting feed.   Roy had talked about wanting to protect Hogberg early, but that didn’t happen there. The Islanders has disastrous defensive zone coverage. Isaiah George got beat on the zone entry, and Mayfield slid down and couldn’t block the pass. The Islanders played far too tentatively with the puck in the offensive zone in the first period. Maxim Tsyplakov had some strong zone entries, but the plays fizzled out soon thereafter. Notably, Hogberg made a very nice save on a speeding Drew O’Connor. O’Connor came around hard to Hogberg’s left. The shot came off O’Connor’s backhand hard, fast, and across Hogberg’s body, but he made the save to keep it 1-0. The best chance of the period for the Islanders came with under 10 seconds left. Anthony Duclair flew down the left wing and sent a pass to Mathew Barzal inside the left-hand circle. He fired quickly, but Nedeljkovic said no. Kyle Palmieri dug for the rebound, drawing the ire of Bryan Rust. The pair mixed it up as the Penguins fans roared, and the first period came to a close.

Second Period:

Needing a strong start to the second period, the Islanders did the exact opposite. Noah Dobson tripped Crosby, which gave the Penguins the game’s first power play. Hogberg made multiple strong saves before, ultimately, Crosby ensured he’d pass Mario Lemieux for all-time assists in Penguins history. From behind the net, Crosby dished to Bunting in front, who made no mistake. All four Islanders’ killers got caught puck-watching as the kill continues to hurt the Islanders this year. That led to an unbelievably thunderous standing ovation for Crosby as the Jumbotron showed he passed Lemieux for all-time assists.   They even delayed the face-off for Crosby to salute the crowd. Bo Horvat tapped his stick on the ice out of respect. In the first 6:47, the Penguins fired 13 shots at Hogberg. He denied 12/13, with another notable save coming on a Rust breakaway after he got loose behind everybody. Later in the second, the Islanders received two power plays. The first one did not generate anything except momentum for the Penguins. During the second period, the Penguins registered 21 shots on goal to the Islanders’ 15. Of those 15, a rough estimate would say the Islanders launched 7 or 8 of those in the period’s final three minutes. The Islanders had a power play in those final three minutes. Despite generating great looks, they could not solve Nedeljkovic. The flashiest of the bunch came when Anthony Duclair pump-faked a slapper, cut into the slot, and ripped a wrister ear marker for the twine. Instead, it found the net in Nedeljkovic’s glove.

Third Period:

Needing a strong start to try and erase a two-goal deficit, the Islanders came out flat for the third straight period. For the second straight period, they took an early-period penalty. Kyle MacLean took a blatant hook that left Roy shaking his head on the bench. In the dying seconds of the kill, Tomasino chucked one toward the front. It banked off Romanov’s leg and in, past Hogberg, who had no chance for the third time in the game. Later, Anders Lee scored two late goals to put the Islanders within one, but it wasn’t enough. They fell 3-2 to the Penguins and dropped two games below .500 yet again.