In Elmont, the New York Islanders laid the proverbial egg on Wednesday night in a 7-0 shelling at the hands of the visiting Pittsburgh Penguins.
The Pens scored six times in the second period.
Kris Letang set an NHL record with five assists in the middle frame, the first time an NHL defenseman accomplished the feat.
“I only [found out] after the game,” Letang said. “I think Todd (Reirden) mentioned it to me, but he was not 100 percent sure. It’s one of those nights where everybody seemed to score every time I gave it to them.”
Tristan Jarry made 21 saves in the win.
“I thought the team played a great game. We had a well-structured game, we were sticking to the plan,” Jarry said. “That helps us execute. I think that puts us in a good place. You see how many goals we got in and around the net. I think that’s a recipe for success.”
The Penguins moved to 16-13-4.
“I thought the first period was a pretty low event period on both sides. There weren’t a lot of plays, there wasn’t a lot of extended zone time for either side,” Pittsburgh coach Mike Sullivan said. “I thought in the second period we did a much better job of controlling territory and establishing some offensive zone time. I think a lot of it starts in the neutral zone, and we made good decisions with the puck. I thought our guys did a real good job, and that goes a long way to setting the game up the way we want to play it.”
After a scoreless first period, the Pens’ offense was free to roam the Elmont ice.
Pittsburgh’s Rickard Rakell opened the scoring at 6:44 of the middle frame to give the Pens a 1-0 lead.kin.
Jake Guentzel scored midway through the second period to extend the advantage to 2-0.
Guentzel scored 12 12 seconds off a breakaway to push the lead to 3-0.
The goal came after a timeout by the Islanders
“We had to wake up. [There was] a lot of hockey game left,” Islanders coach Lane Lambert said. “Then, clearly, it didn’t work this time.”
Evgeni Malkin then scored a double of his own for the Penguins, his first came at 12:48 for a 4-0 lead..
Malkin’s double was hit at 16:06 to balloon the lead to 5-0..
Radim Zohorna added salt to the wound at extended at 17:13 off an odd man rush for a 6-0 lead headed to the third.
“It’s always fun when you’re the guy that sets up the first NHL goal,” Letang said. “I think Sid [Crosby] had all of them, but it’s cool. It’s a special moment for the player, and you just saw it on his face, how special it was. It was cool to do.”
The Isles dropped to 16-9-9.
“I mean, just a really bad stretch,” New York’s Mathew Barzal said. “We poured it on in the first period, could have had a couple then. … So, as bad as the score is, the game could have been a lot different if we score first in the first period.”
Valtteri Puustinen added insult midway through the third for the final count of 7-0.
Ilya Sorokin got the start for the Islanders, and surrendered all six second period goals. He made 19 saves before getting the hook in the second intermission.
Semyon Varlamov made six saves in an aisle 3 mop up.
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