Evgeni Malkin provided the winning margin for the Penguins, who were able to come back from a two-goal deficit to win in a penalty shootout against the New York Islanders, 3-2. Malkin was the only player to score in the shootout, as goalies Rick DiPietro and Marc-Andre Fleury kept everything else out.
The Islanders opened up the scoring early in the first period, when just over a minute into the game, Frans Nielsen netted a goal on assists by Kyle Okposo and Mark Streit. The Islanders held that advantage until under a minute into the third period, when Matt Martin scored on assists by Steve Staios and Marty Reasoner to take the Islanders lead to 2-0.
That score however, seemed to spark the Penguins, as Chris Kunitz scored under a minute later on assists by Pascal Dupuis and Kris Letang to slim the margin to 2-1. Then, three minutes later James Neal scored his ninth goal of the season on a power play to even the score 2-2. Assists were provided on the goal by Chris Kunitz and Evgeni Malkin.
The game stayed level through the remainder of the third period and through the overtime period, prompting a penalty shootout. Malkin was the second shooter for Pittsburgh. With the win the Penguins improve their record to 8-2-2, while the Islanders fall to 3-4-1.