Penguins 4, Islanders 0: Tomas Vokoun turned aside 31 shots in his first postseason appearance since 2007 and captain Sidney Crosby collected a goal and an assist as host Pittsburgh seized a 3-2 advantage in its Eastern Conference first-round series with eighth-seeded New York.
Kris Letang scored a goal and set up another while fellow defenseman Douglas Murray and Tyler Kennedy also tallied. Pascal Dupuis, Evgeni Malkin and Jarome Iginla each notched an assist to extend their respective point streaks to six games for the top-seeded Penguins, who will look to clinch the series on Long Island in Game 6 on Saturday.
Playing in place of the ineffective Marc-Andre Fleury, Vokoun showed no signs of rust en route to his second career postseason shutout. The 36-year-old entered the contest with a 3-8 mark in the playoffs - with all 11 decisions coming while he was a member of the Nashville Predators.
A healthy scratch for the first four contests of the series, Kennedy reeled in Letang's stretch pass before wiring a shot over the glove of Evgeni Nabokov (23 saves) at 7:25 of the second period.
Murray doubled the advantage 1:22 later as his wrist shot from the point caromed off the glove of his former San Jose teammate before fluttering across the goal line. Crosby continued the scoring frenzy with six minutes remaining in the session, when he split defensemen Thomas Hickey and Lubomir Visnovsky before snapping a shot past Nabokov.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Crosby, who set up Letang's power-play goal 5:43 into the third period, was joined by Washington captain Alex Ovechkin and Tampa Bay stud Martin St. Louis as finalists for the Ted Lindsay Award. The honor is presented to the most outstanding player in the NHL as voted by fellow members of the NHL Players' Association. ... Islanders G Kevin Poulin relieved Nabokov after Letang's tally and finished with four saves. ... The opening session was just the second scoreless period of the series. The teams also failed to tally in the third period of Game 1.
NY Islanders | Pittsburgh | |
N/A | Points | Sidney Crosby 2 |
N/A | Goals | Sidney Crosby 1 |
N/A | Assists | Sidney Crosby 1 |
N/A | Power Play Goals | Kris Letang 1 |
N/A | Short Handed Goals | N/A |
Kevin Poulin 1.000 | Save Percentage | Tomas Vokoun 1.000 |
Evgeni Nabokov 23 | Saves | Tomas Vokoun 31 |
Team | Shots | Goals | Power Play | Penalty Kill | Penalty Mins | Face Offs Won |
NY Islanders | 31 | 0 | 0-2 | 4-5 | 36 | 21 |
Pittsburgh | 31 | 4 | 1-5 | 2-2 | 30 | 37 |