The New York Islanders came from behind to defeat the Pittsburgh Penguins 4-3 in overtime in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference first-round playoff series in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Kyle Palmieri scored his second goal of the game 16:30 into overtime as the Islanders overcame a one-goal deficit to grab a 1-0 in the series. 

Ilya Sorokin, making his first career playoff start for New York, made 39 saves while Tristan Jarry stopped 37 shots in his second career postseason start for Pittsburgh.

Story of the game

The Penguins controlling the early run of play, testing Sorokin early on. The game soon opened up with Mathew Barzal and Leo Komarov initiating a two-on-one, but the cross-ice pass was broken up.

The Islanders scored the game’s first goal with 12:02 left in the first period. Pittsburgh tried dumping it into the corner but Jean-Gabriel Pageau smartly cut it off and threw it ahead Palmieri. He and Oliver Wahlstrom criss-crossed as they skated over the blue line, and Palmieri rifled a shot over the glove of Jarry.

Just over three minutes later, Pittsburgh evened the score. Pinning the Islanders into their own zone, they cycled it around, Evan Rodrigues took a shot from out high, which was blocked by Anthony Beauvillier. The puck eventually came out to Freddy Gaudreau in the slot and his shot was blocked by Josh Bailey. He recovered, found some space, and fired again through traffic, putting the puck over Sorokin’s blocker.

The Penguins took a 2-1 lead in the second period as Sidney Crosby tipped Brian Dumoulin's wrist shot. Adam Pelech then tripped Kasperi Kapanen, but the Islanders killed off the penalty. Penalties to Crosby and Jeff Carter gave New York a four-minute power play, which they were unable to take advantage of.

The third period saw the Islanders erase the deficit as Pageau took a pass through the neutral zone from Mayfield and after skating over the blue line, wristed a shot over Jarry to tie the game and on a rush Beauvillier gave it to Nelson, who wristed it from distance to give the Islanders the lead.

31 seconds later, Carter dropped it off for Kapanen and as they crisscrossed, he banked it in off of the far post as Sorokin didn't come out far enough to cut off the angle. Crosby nearly won the game in regulation, his shot going high over the net and the game would go to overtime.

In the extra session, Barzal had a breakaway. He got around Mike Matheson and Jared McCann swiped away the puck on the backcheck. Barzal was hurt getting up from the play, but no penalty was called.

At the top of the left circle, Greene had a chance that was blocked by Cody Ceci and Eberle and Barzal racing into the Pens’ zone on a two-on-two, with Kris Letang getting a stick on Eberle’s shot. After the midpoint break, Pageau stripped the puck from Matheson and fed Beauvillier, but Jarry blocked the puck.

With about five minutes left, Carter caught a high flip and sneaked behind Ryan Pulock and Noah Dobson, forcing Sorokin to make a tough save and the game looked destined for a second overtime, but Pageau dug the puck out of the corner and got it to Palmieri. The puck was bouncing, but Palmieri managed to corral it and squeeze it in a tight window off of and over Jarry’s shoulder.