Mar 30, 2026; Elmont, New York, USA; Pittsburgh Penguins right wing Avery Hayes (85) celebrates his goal against New York Islanders goaltender Ilya Sorokin (30) during the third period at UBS Arena. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-Imagn Images
ELMONT, NY — The Pittsburgh Penguins’ fifth and final goal of a disastrous second period was the perfect encapsulation of the New York Islanders’ defensive implosion in what was, up to date, their most important game of the season.
Choking away a 3-1 lead almost instantaneously by allowing three goals in 3:34, the Islanders’ malaise was uninterrupted when the Penguins dumped the puck down the left boards inside three minutes to go in the second. The puck skittered around the end boards and onto the right wall, where all five Islanders on the ice shifted over to that half of the ice.
It left Anthony Mantha, who had scored just 2:43 earlier, wide open at the left circle. Justin Brazeau found him, and the Pittsburgh forward moved in alone on Ilya Sorokin and finished a backhanded chance around the outstretched left foot of the New York netminder.
Five goals in 6:17, seven unanswered tallies between the second and third periods in what became an 8-3 loss, and with it, another turn to tighten the clenched vice grip that already is the Eastern Conference playoff picture.
“We were just awful defensively,” defenseman Ryan Pulock said. “Guys behind us, breakaways, losing puck battles. Halfway through that period, we were just awful.”
The problem was that the Islanders’ effort was doing the turning, as the breakdowns and high-danger chances allowed with little resistance looked nothing like a team that entered Monday night’s gargantuan tilt holding a one-point lead for second place in the Metropolitan Division over these very same Penguins.
“We gave them 11 chances in that second period, are you kidding me?” head coach Patrick Roy began. “That was probably our worst game defensively in a while. We can’t give that many chances and think that we’re gonna win hockey games. There’s things we need to do better defensively.”
The break at intermission did little to rectify the problem, either.
New York yielded a 3-on-1 break the other way that was ultimately converted by Avery Hayes after Sorokin made two initial saves. Rickard Rakell was then able to follow up on a Brazeau shot that was saved by the blocker hand of the left-out-to-dry goaltender.
Mercifully, that was all for Sorokin. He was lifted for the final 12 minutes of the night for David Rittich. Whether or not that is enough of a breather to give him the nod for the second leg of this back-to-back on Tuesday night in Buffalo against the Atlantic Division’s top team, the Sabres, remains to be seen.
Needless to say, though, the glaring defensive issues that reared their ugly head on Monday night have to be rectified quickly. The Islanders now trail the Penguins by one point for second in the Metropolitan Division and hold a one-point lead over the Columbus Blue Jackets, who have a game in hand and are sitting in the second and final Wild Card spot in the Eastern Conference.
“We know what we did, we know what’s wrong, we know what we need to do to play the right way,” Pulock said. “And that’s regrouping mentally for [Tuesday]. That’s all that matters right now. Understand what went wrong, understand what we did. That’s not us. It was a big game, and we didn’t do it the right way.”
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