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After an emotional pregame ceremony for their mourning city on Tuesday night, Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins channeled their emotions into a first-period flurry.
The Islanders spoiled their efforts for an uplifting finish, though, with Jordan Eberle scoring twice in the second period of a 6-3 victory.
The Penguins held a ceremony to honor the victims of Saturday’s synagogue shooting in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood. It included an 11-second moment of silence in memory of the 11 people slain, whose names appeared on the scoreboard. There was also a ceremonial puck drop featuring two officers who were wounded in the attack.
Then the Penguins came out flying, peppering goalie Robin Lehner with scoring chances, but the Islanders escaped the first period with a 2-2 tie.
“We wanted to go out there and play for them,” said Crosby, who scored late in the period. “You try to recognize that and play as hard as you can to show your appreciation. Words are one thing, but you try to go out there and follow it up the same.”
Islanders Coach Barry Trotz said it ranked among his team’s “worst periods of the season” and the team struggled with “heavy boots,” but he understood the circumstances.
“I watched the news like everybody else, and it was absolutely cowardly what happened with the whole tragedy,” Trotz said. “But sometimes, sports teams can help a city rally, and full marks to the Penguins because they came out hard.”
Eberle scored his second and third goals for the Islanders, who swept a three-game trip. Brock Nelson scored his sixth of the season and fifth goal in five games, and Tom Kuhnhackl, who won two Stanley Cups in Pittsburgh, scored his first as an Islander. Andrew Ladd and Matt Martin also scored for the Islanders, who have won four of six after starting the season 2-3.
Lehner stopped 23 of 25 shots, but he did not play in the third period after sustaining what Trotz described as a strain. Thomas Greiss stopped 12 shots for the Islanders, who are playing eight of their first 11 games on the road for the first time in team history.
Evgeni Malkin and Dominik Simon also scored for Pittsburgh, which had won four in a row. The Penguins outscored the opposition, 23-6, during a perfect four-game Canadian road trip.
“We had a lot of different emotions going through our minds to start, but the bottom line is that we wanted to find a way to get a win for a lot of reasons,” Crosby said. “Unfortunately, it didn’t happen.”
LIGHTNING 8, DEVILS 3 Brayden Point had a career-high five points with a goal and four assists, defenseman Braydon Coburn scored twice and host Tampa Bay rallied from an early two-goal deficit to rout the Devils 8-3.
Steven Stamkos got his 350th career goal and added two assists the Lightning, who were coming off a 3-1-1 trip. Nikita Kucherov had two goals and an assist, and Tyler Johnson and Ryan McDonagh had the other Lightning goals. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 27 saves.
Miles Wood, Travis Zajac and Kyle Palmieri scored for the Devils, who started a seven-game trip. Keith Kinkaid stopped 31 of 38 shots before being replaced five minutes into the third period by Cory Schneider, who allowed a goal on six shots in his first game after off-season hip surgery.
After Wood and Zajac scored in the opening 5:04, Coburn, ending a 38-game goal drought, tied it at 2-2 with first-period scores at 7:30 and 13:30.
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