PITTSBURGH (AP) Jordan Eberle scored twice in the second period to help the New York Islanders pull away from the Pittsburgh Penguins for a 6-3 victory Tuesday night.
The Penguins held a ceremony before the game to honor the victims of Saturday’s synagogue shooting in the Pittsburgh neighborhood of Squirrel Hill. It included an 11-second moment of silence in memory of the 11 people slain.
Eberle scored his second and third goals for the Islanders, who swept a three-game road trip. Brock Nelson scored his sixth of the season and fifth goal in five games, while Tom Kuhnhackl, who won two Stanley Cups in Pittsburgh, scored his first as an Islander. Andrew Ladd and Matt Martin also scored for New York, which has won four of six after starting the season 2-3.
The Islanders are playing eight of their first 11 games on the road for the first time in team history.
Robin Lehner stopped 23 of 25 shots, but he left the game after the second period. Thomas Greiss stopped 12 shots. No reason was immediately given for the change.
Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Dominik Simon scored for Pittsburgh, which ended its four-game winning streak. The Penguins outscored the opposition 23-6 during a perfect four-game Canadian road trip.
Crosby has six goals and nine points in his last four games after going his first six games without a goal. Malkin has an eight-game point streak.
Matt Murray stopped 5 of 9 shots before he was pulled following Eberle’s power-play goal. Casey DeSmith made 14 saves in relief.
Ladd and Nelson staked the Islanders to an early lead in the first, but Simon and Crosby responded to tie it.
The Islanders broke it open with three second-period goals in a span of 4:17.
Martin finished a one-timer from Casey Cizikas, and Eberle scored the next two for a 5-2 lead.
STRONGER THAN HATE
Penguins players wore a special ”Stronger than Hate” patch, which incorporated the team logo and the Star of David, and the Islanders wore a similar decal on their helmets.
A black and white silhouette of the city with the words ”Stronger than Hate” flashed on the scoreboard during the pregame ceremony, while a video tribute played prior to faceoff. A ceremonial puck drop featured Pittsburgh police Chief Scott Schubert along with Anthony Burke and Mike Smigda, officers wounded in the attack.
The Penguins held a blood drive Monday, and the team also donated to the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh in addition to a fund established by the City of Pittsburgh Department of Safety to benefit police officers wounded in the attack.
NOTES: Penguins’ D Kris Letang missed the game with a lower-body injury. Letang, who leads Penguins’ defensemen in scoring, left Monday’s practice after getting hurt Saturday against Vancouver. .. Penguins F Derick Brassard (lower body) and Islanders F Cal Clutterbuck (upper body) both missed their second straight game because of injury. … Mathew Barzal has 11 points in 11 games and Josh Bailey has a six-game point streak for the Islanders.
UP NEXT
The Penguins and Islanders meet again in New York on Thursday.
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