Islanders top Penguins 4-1 to take 3-0 series lead
PITTSBURGH — The New York Islanders don’t play a particularly sexy brandy of hockey. They forecheck. They backcheck. They block shots and take few risks, more focused on fundamentals than flash.
It’s a style designed to frustrate opponents regardless of pedigree, one that has them on the cusp of just their second playoff series win in more than a quarter-century.
Jordan Eberle and Brock Nelson scored 62 seconds apart in the first period to quickly erase a rare deficit, Robin Lehner stopped 25 shots and the Islanders moved within one victory of finishing off Sidney Crosby and the rest of the frustrated Pittsburgh Penguins with a 4-1 win on Sunday to take a 3-0 lead in their best-of-seven Eastern Conference quarterfinal.
It’s heady territory for a franchise that’s advanced past the first round just once since 1993. Yet the Islanders certainly look like they belong on the big stage. They’ve outscored Pittsburgh 11-5 through three games and have trailed for less than four minutes through nine-plus periods against a team that began the playoffs looking to capture its third Stanley Cup in four years, a dream that’s all but vanished.