PITTSBURGH – Sidney Crosby broke Mario Lemieux’s Pittsburgh franchise career record for assists on Michael Bunting’s power-play goal and the Penguins beat the New York Islanders 3-2 on Sunday night.
Crosby has 1,034 assists, good for 12th in NHL history. Only three players — Ray Bourque, Wayne Gretzky and Steve Yzerman — have more assists with a single team. The 37-year-old Crosby has played 1,310-regular-season games. Lemieux played 915.
Evgeni Malkin added the deciding power-play goal in the third for Pittsburgh, which has 14 goals with the man advantage in its last 13 games. Anthony Beauvillier also scored to help the Penguins win for the seventh time in their last eight home games.
Alex Nedeljkovic made 29 saves in his first start since Dec. 17.
Kris Letang missed the game because of a lower-body injury, and defenseman Nathan Clurman made his NHL debut.
Anders Lee and Bo Horvat scored third-period goals for the Islanders, who fell behind 3-0 before their rally fell short.
Marcus Hogberg stopped 38 shots during his first start since April 28, 2021.
Takeaways
Islanders: Have lost five of their last eight games after splitting the back-to-back, home-and-home series with Pittsburgh.
Penguins: Rebounded from a 6-3 road loss against the Islanders 24 hours ago. Pittsburgh has won 10 of 15 after losing eight of its previous 10 games.
Key moment
Crosby was behind the net when he sent a backhand feed to Bunting, who buried his seventh power-play goal behind Hogberg at 1:36 of the second period, giving the Penguins a 2-0 lead.
Up next
Both teams play again Tuesday. Pittsburgh visits Detroit, while the Islanders begin a home-and-home series at Toronto.
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