PITTSBURGH — There’s life in these Islanders yet.
Two days after taking their biggest punch of the season, the Islanders got up off the mat and delivered, snapping a three-game losing streak and beating the Penguins, 5-4, on Tuesday at PPG Paints Arena with Adam Pelech scoring the winner 57 seconds into overtime.
For a dressing room that appeared to be at its lowest point all year after losing to the Rangers in overtime Sunday, and with the playoff math looking worse with every loss, getting a win here was an absolute necessity.
That was made even more urgent by the manner of the game being pushed beyond regulation, with the Islanders fumbling a two-goal lead in the third period and giving the game an air of déjà vu all over again.
But Pelech, who strolled into the zone before unleashing a wrister to beat Alex Nedeljkovic, had something to say about that.
“Especially coming off the outdoor game, which was a big disappointment for us, to respond the way we did, I’m really proud of this group,” Pelech said. “We had to battle in the third but we got the job done and that’s a huge win for us.”
The icing on the cake was the penalty kill, which put together a perfect three-for-three performance that the Islanders very much need to become a building block.
After coach Patrick Roy lost a challenge for a hand pass on Lars Eller’s goal 16:35 into the second, which cut the Islanders’ lead to 3-2, the test came as the Isles were handed a delay of game call.
Not only did the Isles kill it off with good stickwork and Ilya Sorokin coming up big, but they were asked to put in a repeat performance less than a minute later after Mike Reilly went off for tripping.
With the power play traversing the second and third periods, the Islanders went and did what they had to do, keeping the state of play intact and gutting through a moment that appeared designed to sink them.
“I think when push came to shove, we got a stick on it or we blocked it,” Cal Clutterbuck told The Post. “We did what we had to do.”