Granted we've hit the "too little, too late" point in the season, the New York Islanders are nonetheless playing some excellent hockey at the moment. Thursday night, they took out what had been a streaking Pittsburgh Penguins team for the second time in three nights, collecting a 5-3 victory at home to put themselves at .500 for the first time since Feb. 18.
Al Montoya started in net with Evgeni Nabokov out with a lower body injury. He didn't face nearly the same onslaught he faced Tuesday night when the Pens fired 22 shots at him in the third period. Montoya face 29 shots through three periods and stopped all but three of them. It wasn't a great night, but it was much better than Marc-Andre Fleury's, who let in four goals off 23 shots against.
Kyle Okposo scored his 19th and 20th tallies of the year, giving him a 20-goal season for the first time in his young career. His final goal came 5:52 into the third period to put the Isles up 4-1. From there, Jordan Staal scored for the Pens and Evgeni Malkin added his 47th goal of the season to bring Pittsburgh within one with 1:30 left. Josh Bailey hit an empty net from 35 feet away to put the game away, however. He finished the game with five points (two goals, three assists) on the night.
For more on the Islanders, head over to the SB Nation blog Lighthouse Hockey.