Islanders Closeout Regular Season With 5-4 Win Over The Penguins; Playoffs Loom

The New York Islanders closed out the regular season with a 5-4 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins. It's a nine-game point streak to end the season for New York.

Tonight's game ended up being meaningless for both teams, with the Islanders locked into the 3-seed in the metropolitan division and the Penguins being eliminated from the postseason last night.

Ilya Sorokin picked up the win, making 40 saves for the Islanders. Alex Nedeljkovic was the losing goaltender, making 27 stops on 32 Islander shots.

Kyle Palmieri reached the thirty-goal mark for the second time in his career.

Mathew Barzal, Pierre Engvall, Hudson Fasching and Anders Lee did not play in this game. Lee was held out for personal reasons. Oliver Wahlstrom, Sam Bolduc and Simon Holmstrom returned to the lineup.

Ruslan Iskhakov was called up from Bridgeport on loan and made his NHL debut. The Islanders played with 11 forwards and seven defenseman.

Brock Nelson opened the scoring 4:56 into the game with his 34th goal of the season by finishing off a great pass from Simon Holmstrom:

Rickard Rakell evened up the score at one for the Penguins with 1:31 left in the first period. Bunting made a drop pass to Rakell who's wrist shot slipped through Sorokin.

It's most likely a goal that Sorokin would want back. Evgeni Malkin was credited with the secondary assist.

After one period the Penguins and Islanders were even with one-goal apiece. There were a lot of shots in the first, as Pittsburgh had 17 and New York had 12.

The Penguins took a 2-1 lead 6:14 into the second period as Pittsburgh's dynamic duo connected on the power play. Crosby found Malkin in the crease, who deflected the puck into the goal:

It was reviewed, but the goal stood as Malkin scored for the 27th time this season. Erik Karlsson tallied his 45th assist of the season with the secondary.

51 seconds later Valtteri Puustinen scored but it was challenged for offsides. The call was overturned and the score remained 2-1.

Casey Cizikas tied the score at two by deflecting Alex Romanov's shot into the back of the net with 6:41 to go in the second. Cizikas scored his tenth goal of the season for the fourth time in his career:

Bolduc was credited with the secondary assist in his first game since January.

The tie score didn't last long, as Puustinen stole the puck from Mike Reilly and rifled it past Sorokin. The Penguins re-gained their lead at 3-2:

Before the period was over the Islanders tied the game up again as Palmieri scored his 30th goal of the season, matching his career high from 2015-16. The tally came with 16 seconds left in the middle frame:

Mike Reilly made a great stop to keep the puck in the zone before a quick play sent it to Nelson, then across for Palmieri who one-timed it into the back of the net.

The Islanders and Penguins were tied at three after 40 minutes. Pittsburgh was still in control of the shots in the second, with 13 compared to the Islanders 11.

Bolduc scored a goal on the power play 1:36 into the third period. Pulock set up the slapshot Bolduc scored on.

Iskhakov was credited with the secondary assist for passing the puck to Pulock. It's the first point of his NHL career.

Jeff Carter scored on the power play with 9:04 to go on another beautiful assist from Crosby. Bunting recorded the secondary assist and the game was tied at four.

MacLean made a great no-look pass to Holmstrom, who buried the puck to put the Islanders back up 5-4 with 5:33 to go in regulation:

Nelson covered the puck with his glove in the crease with 29.5 left on the clock, resulting in a penalty shot for Crosby and the Penguins.

Sorokin stood tall with his glove and stopped Crosby's backhanded attempt. He made another big save on Carter who deflected a long pass while charging towards the net.

The Islanders did not allow another shot and closed out their regular season with a win.

Next up, it's the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the Islanders as they head down to Raleigh for Game One against the Hurricanes on Saturday.