In Uniondale, the New York Islanders found a way to grab a 1-0 series lead over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Wednesday night.
The Isles’ fourth lead of the night was the clincher as Josh Bailey scored with 4:39 gone in extra time.
“I was kind of tired,” Bailey said. “I was just trying to catch up. Fortunately, [Barzal] made a great play and showed a lot of poise. We got the bounce that we needed. We’ve become accustomed to that. [Barzal] did it yet again.”
Pittsburgh had rallied from three one-goal deficits in regulation including a late goal in the third period from Justin Schultz with 1:29 left on the clock.
“The building was loud,” Pittsburgh forward Jake Guentzel said. “It’s their home ice and we knew they were going to come out strong. Not the way we wanted to start for sure. We have to start better next game and go from there.”
Robin Lehner made 41 saves for his first career post season win.
“Robin made some huge saves at the right time,” New York coach Barry Trotz said. “They’re throwing a lot of pucks, they put pucks to those hard areas and they’ve got high-skilled guys who can turn those loose-puck type of battles or races into offense. I though he fought through all that and made some big saves at key times tonight.”
Evgeni Malkin and Phil Kessel also scored for the Pens.
“It’s a tough building to play in,” Schultz said. “The fans are on top of you. I liked how we battled back, but still lots to learn. … The guys have been here before, and we know it is going to be a long series.”
Nick Leddy, Jordan Eberle and Brock Nelson scored in regulation for the Isles.
“Up and down, ups and downs during the game, we stayed focused the whole way. You can’t let anything get to you,” Mathew Barzal said after the Game 1 win. “Good battles on the ice, overtime … that’s playoff hockey right there going against an experienced group. It was a heck of a game by both teams. Could have gone either way.”
[WATCH: All Penguins vs. Islanders Game 1 highlights | Complete series coverage]
Matt Murray made 29 saves in the loss.
“It’s everything we talked about for the last couple of days. Making sure we manage the puck and have situational awareness in mind,” Pens head coach Mike Sullivan said describing the game-ending goal. “If we’re late in shifts, especially when it’s a long change from the bench, you have to make good decisions with the puck. If we had numbers and an opportunity for a potential scoring chance, I think that is a calculated risk. I’m not sure we had the awareness that we needed there in that situation.”
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