Penguins Cruise Past Islanders, Clinch Playoff Berth
I don’t know about you. But for the first time in a long (long) while I felt like I was watching the real Pittsburgh Penguins last night. Our 6-3 playoff-clinching conquest of the Islanders featured some old, familiar story lines.
Great skating, determined forechecking, clutch goaltending and opportunistic scoring. And yes, a nagging inability to play with and protect a lead.
Still, as they say, a win is a win is a win. And we’ll gladly take the two points and run.
We got the jump on those pesky Islanders 4:59 into the first period. Jake Guentzel, superb in garnering top-star honors, hit Kris Letang with a pass out of the left corner of the Isles’ zone. Tanger skated to the high slot and drilled the puck past Ilya Sorokin to stake us to a 1-0 lead.
On this night even a slashing penalty to Danton Heinen at 6:46 proved fortuitous. Two minutes later Brian Boyle spotted the blonde-haired winger stepping from the box and sprung him on a breakaway. Heinen laced the puck through Sorokin’s wicket.