Isles edge Pens in OT, run points streak to 16

Brock Nelson, playing in his 500th career game, scored with 43.5 seconds left in overtime Thursday night as the red-hot New York Islanders beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 4-3 in Brooklyn, N.Y., and set a franchise record for points in consecutive games at 16. The Islanders have gone 15-0-1 in a span that began Oct. 12 to break the previous franchise-best points streak set by the 1981-82 team, which won 15 straight games. New York's only blemish in its current streak was an overtime loss to the Penguins on Nov. 7m also in Brooklyn, in which it blew a three-goal third-period lead.

The Islanders' point streak is the longest in the NHL since the Tampa Bay Lightning also went 15-0-1 in 16 straight games from Nov. 29, 2018 through Jan. 3, 2019. No team has recorded points in at least 17 straight games since the Boston Bruins had an 18-game streak during the 2017-18 season. Nelson also gave Islanders the lead with 4:52 left in the third, but Patric Hornqvist scored with 29.9 seconds remaining to force overtime.

Scott Mayfield scored in the first period and Anthony Beauvillier scored in the second for the Islanders. Goalie Thomas Greiss made 23 saves. Evgeni Malkin scored in the first period and Bryan Rust scored in the second for the Penguins, who also lost to the Islanders in overtime in Pittsburgh on Tuesday and have dropped four of five (1-1-3) overall. Matt Murray recorded 20 saves.

The Penguins took the lead just 64 seconds after faceoff. Jake Guentzel attempted to backhand a shot toward Greiss, but the puck skittered across the crease and toward Malkin, who dove ahead of Adam Pelech and hit the ice as he poked the shot past a sprawling Greiss. The Islanders tied the score late in the period following Mathew Barzal's faceoff win deep in the Penguins' zone. The puck bounced to Mayfield, whose slap shot from just in front of the blue line sailed past a gaggle of players, and also past Murray, who was screened by Anders Lee, for the goal with 4:48 left.

An Islanders turnover led to the Penguins' second goal a mere 1:09 into the second. Jordan Eberle's pass in the Pittsburgh zone was intended for Ryan Pulock, but the puck sailed by him and into the neutral zone, where Rust picked it up and went in untouched for the breakaway goal. The Islanders scored the game-tying goal on the power play shortly beyond the midway point of the period when Beauvillier rebounded a shot by Derick Brassard and tucked it into the corner of the net as Nelson screened Murray with 8:22 remaining.

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