Pens defeat Isles in second game of set

In Pittsburgh, Casey DeSmith made 19 saves through the final 40 minutes of the

Casey DeSmith relieved Tristan Jarry after the first period in a 2-1 Penguins win

Penguins’ match with the New York Islanders on Monday night.  That was enough for a 2-1 win over the Isles.

“I found out a couple minutes after we got in there that [Jarry] wasn’t going back out,” DeSmith said. “First time this year I think I had to go in cold, but I got warm real quick with that flurry there at the beginning of the second.”

Tristan Jarry got teh start for the Pens, but did not ice for them after the first intermission.

“I don’t have a lot of details for you at this point and can’t even really pinpoint when it might have happened,” Pens head coach Mike Sullivan said. “Obviously, it was something the medical staff felt strongly enough about to take him out of the game.”

Matt Martin scored for the Islanders after the Penguins had taken a 2-0 lead.

“All the games have been pretty close. We lost some in overtime,” Islanders head coach Barry Trotz said. “There’s two games, I think a 4-1 (on Feb. 18) and a 6-3 (on Saturday), that we weren’t very good. It seems we want to play their game more than we want to play our game when we play the Penguins. I think we realize that. … I think we’ve got a good understanding.”

Anthony Angello  and Jared McCann scored in the opening frame for a 2-0 lead.

“We’re playing a complete game,” McCann said. “We’re doing the simple things to win the game. I know it sounds pretty cliché, but we’re working as a team. … We’re doing all the right things to help each other and we’re taking advantage of their mistakes and capitalizing.”

The Pens improved to 23-11-2.

“I just think we’re not getting off to the best starts,” Martin said. “We have a lot of character in our room. We eventually find our game and get to our game. There’s no quit in our game. … We have to get off to better starts. Thankfully, we’re heading home [for the next six games].”

Semyon Varlamov made 20 save in the loss.

“Obviously we’re not trying to do it,” the Islanders’ Ryan Pulock said. “But it’s something that we have to stop now and really focus on the first five minutes, first 10 minutes next game, and coming with our best to start.”