Brandon Tanev scored with 3:36 left as the Pittsburgh Penguins outlasted the New York Islanders 5-4 in a wild Game 3 of the Eastern Conference first-round series Thursday night in Uniondale, N.Y.
The Penguins lead the best-of-seven series two games to one. Game 4 is scheduled for Saturday afternoon on Long Island.
The third period, played in front of a raucous pandemic-era sellout crowd of 7,200, featured five goals, two ties and a whopping 32 penalty minutes thanks largely to a lengthy skirmish near the Penguins’ net at the 5:35 mark.
Kris Letang scored in the first, and Jeff Carter and Jason Zucker scored fewer than five minutes apart late in the second to stake the Penguins to a 3-1 lead.
Cal Clutterbuck and Anthony Beauvillier scored 2:08 apart early in the third — Beauvillier’s goal came on the first shift following the fracas — to tie the game for the Islanders. Carter scored his second goal of the game at the 7:00 mark.
Clutterbuck tied it again by redirecting a shot by Scott Mayfield with 5:53 left before Tanev scored the game-winner. The Islanders pulled goalie Semyon Varlamov with a little more than 1:30 left but did not seriously threaten.
Tristan Jarry made 26 saves for the Penguins.
Mayfield scored the Islanders’ first goal, in the second. Varlamov recorded 22 saves.
Letang’s goal 2:01 into the first gave the Penguins their second straight early lead. They were up 2-0 after one period in a 2-1 win Tuesday.
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The Islanders had a pair of empty power plays and Beauvillier misfired on a breakaway early in the second before Mayfield tied the score with 8:57 left.
The lead lasted just 151 seconds before Carter scored. Zucker made it 3-1 with 1:57 remaining.
Clutterbuck scored 3:46 into the third to begin the Islanders’ comeback.
–Field Level Media