Penguins’ skid hits 5

Associated Press

PITTSBURGH

The Pittsburgh Penguins have spent the majority of the Sidney Crosby era treating the regular season as an 82-game exhibition until the playoffs start.

Not this year. Not by a long shot.

John Tavares broke a tie with his 37th goal of the season early in the third period and the New York Islanders pulled away to beat the reeling Penguins 3-1 on Friday night. Pittsburgh has lost five straight but can still claw into the postseason through a series of scenarios, the easiest coming with a win over lowly Buffalo tonight.

“That’s why we play 82 games to see who [are] the best teams after that,” Penguins forward Patric Hornqvist said. “Tomorrow is a hell of a game and everybody is excited. Live or die. Can’t wait.”

There are no such issues for the Islanders. New York clinched a spot Thursday and assured itself of at least third-place in the Metropolitan Division. The Islanders can earn home-ice in the first round with a win over Columbus and a Washington loss to the New York Rangers.

Jaroslav Halak recovered from a horrific meltdown in a loss to Philadelphia on Tuesday night — when he allowed the winning goal on a knuckling wrist shot from 50 feet with 2 seconds left in regulation — by stopping 37 shots. Michael Grabner and Casey Cizikas also scored for the Islanders.

“They had a desperate team tonight and they were throwing everything at the net,” Grabner said. “And [Halak] stood on his head. But he’s been doing that all year for us and the last game, it was just bad luck. We put that behind us.”

Pittsburgh appeared to grab momentum when Rob Scuderi he banged home a shot from the left circle with just 5.7 seconds to go in the second to tie the game. The defenseman’s first goal in more than two years evened things, but not for long.

Tavares had little trouble flipping a rebound by Marc-Andre Fleury 2:46 into the third. Grabner added his eighth goal with less than 4 minutes remaining and Halak took care of the rest.

“I needed to be better,” Halak said. “Especially with giving up a late goal [on Tuesday] like that.”

No matter what happens in the final regular season game ever at Nassau Coliseum, the Islanders will at least get two more games in their outdated rink before moving to Brooklyn next season.

There may be no more home games for Pittsburgh, at least this season. It’s a scenario that seemed far-fetched a month ago before a 3-9-2 spiral that has left the Penguins scrambling. Fleury, voted Pittsburgh’s MVP by his teammates earlier in the day, made 23 stops but the Penguins continued to struggle to score. Pittsburgh has 11 goals in its last seven home games.

“We were all around the net, generating some good chances, getting a lot of pucks at the net, competed hard in the corners, all the things you need to do to generate goals,” Crosby said. “You have to trust that it’s going to go in.”

The Penguins blew an early three-goal lead in an overtime loss to Ottawa on Tuesday night, but responded with perhaps their best stretch of play in a long time early against the Islanders.

Halak’s brilliance continued into the second. He stuck his left toe in front of Crosby’s backhander to keep the Penguins off the board.

Tavares and Crosby both have 84 points, tied for the NHL lead.