Pittsburgh, PA -- (Sports Network) - Ryan Whitney scored a pair of power-play goals and Kristopher Letang provided the unassisted go-ahead tally to push Pittsburgh into a tie for first place in the Atlantic Division with a 4-3 victory over the slumping New York Islanders at Mellon Arena.
Evgeni Malkin had three assists on the night for the Penguins, winners of two of their last three. Ryan Malone also scored, while Ty Conklin made 29 saves.
"(Whitney) responded exactly the way I expected," said Pens head coach Michel Therrien. "Give him credit. He upgraded his game, not only offensively. It is great to get two goals tonight, but defensively he was sharp. This is what I want from him."
Mike Comrie had a pair of goals for the Islanders, and Ruslan Fedotenko notched a power-play marker. Rick DiPietro had 23 saves for New York, which dropped its sixth straight and has now lost eight of its last nine overall.
"We competed and we had a good effort," said Isles head coach Ted Nolan. "It's a game of mistakes, and we made one too many."
Comrie tied the game at the 10:47 mark of the third period on the power play after the Pens had held a 3-2 lead for nearly 20 minutes worth of scoreless action. Richard Park, stationed behind the Pittsburgh net, fired a pass to left circle, where Comrie flipped a shot over the left shoulder of Conklin into the top shelf.
But Letang broke the deadlock with just 3:39 remaining in the game when he scooped up a loose puck in the Islanders zone and flipped a wrister to the short side, just over the right shoulder of DiPietro.
DiPietro had no chance on the play, screened by his own defense and beaten by a perfect shot. The Isles pulled the goaltender for the ensuing rush, and got a few chances on net, but couldn't break through.
Whitney also had an assist on the night for the Penguins, who are now tied with Philadelphia atop the division standings with 65 points. The Flyers, as well as second-place New Jersey (64 points), were both idle Thursday.
The Isles took an early 1-0 lead by taking advantage of a turnover in the corner by Conklin.
The Pittsburgh goaltender fumbled the puck along the endboards and Andy Hilbert, hustling into the Penguins' zone, turned the gaffe into a goal when he fed a trailing Comrie for an open-net score just over 4 1/2 minutes in.
Pittsburgh answered though, capitalizing on a power play opportunity just past the nine-minute mark. Sean Bergenheim's tripping penalty gave the Pens the man-advantage, and Whitney tied the game off a feed from Petr Sykora.
Early in the second, Malkin won a faceoff in the New York zone and directed the puck to Malone at the left point. Malone fired a slap shot through the defense, and the puck trickled between the legs of DiPietro for a 2-1 Penguins lead at the 2:24 mark.
Just over four minutes later, Fedotenko tied the game with a power-play tally, beating Conklin glove-side at the 6:30 mark. But Whitney answered with his second goal of the night at 11:33, scoring on the power play from Malkin for a 3-2 Pens advantage.
Game Notes
The Islanders have mustered just eight goals during their current six-game skid; it is the franchise's longest losing streak since dropping six straight from December 27, 2006-January 6, 2007...Pittsburgh improved to 15-9-3 at home on the season, and is now 4-2-2 since Sidney Crosby went down with a high ankle sprain.
