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PITTSBURGH — Tom Kuhnhackl laughed at the notion he would receive a tribute video from his former team. Then he shrugged off a pregame question asking what it would be like to score a goal against the Penguins.
Both happened.
“Scoring and winning, that’s just the cherry on top of the cake,” Kuhnhackl said after the Islanders’ emotional 6-3 win at a somber PPG Paints Arena on Tuesday night.
Kuhnhackl, a fourth-liner playing with Cal Clutterbuck injured, scored a third-period goal to stem the Penguins’ momentum as the Islanders (6-4-1) swept a three-game road trip against Metropolitan Division foes and ended a stretch of eight of their first 11 on the road.
“People talk about we’re a young team and we lost JT [John Tavares],” said right wing Jordan Eberle, who scored two of the Islanders’ three second-period goals as they took a 5-2 lead, snapping the Penguins’ four-game winning streak. “We have a lot of guys who know how to win. We’re just trying to keep playing the same way.”
The game was preceded by a ceremony mourning the loss of 11 lives at a mbad shooting at the nearby Tree of Life Synagogue on Saturday.
The Islanders play 8 of 13 at home in November, starting with the Penguins (6-2-2) on Thursday night at Barclays Center.
Neither starting goalie finished the game.
The Penguins’ Matt Murray was pulled after allowing four goals on nine shots in 31:56 and Robin Lehner exited with a strain after making 23 saves in two periods.
Kuhnhackl, who won two Stanley Cups in three seasons with the Penguins before signing a one-year, $700,000 deal with the Islanders, was honored for his time in Pittsburgh with a video tribute during a stoppage at 6:18 of the second period concluding with “Thank You Tom Kuhnhackl.”
He collected a rebound off the left post and banked a shot past Casey DeSmith (14 saves) at 9:44 of the third period for his first point in four games as an Islander to make it 6-3.
“I have a lot of great memories here,” Kuhnhackl said. “I didn’t have that many highlights that they could’ve put on that video.”
Matt Martin gave the Islanders a 3-2 lead at 9:32 of the second period and Eberle chased Murray with a power-play goal at 11:56. Eberle then made it 5-2 at 13:49 of the second period on a goal that withstood an offside challenge by the Penguins to give the Islanders five goals on 10 shots.
The Islanders surrendered a two-goal lead in the first period, which coach Barry Trotz called the team’s worst of the season.
Notes & quotes: Right wing Josh Bailey extended his point streak to six games with an badist . . . Thomas Greiss made 12 saves in relief of Lehner . . . Clutterbuck (upper body) missed his second straight game.
Andrew Gross joined Newsday in 2018 to cover the Islanders. He began reporting on the NHL in 2003 and has previously covered the Rangers and Devils. Other badignments have included the Jets, St. John’s and MLB.
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