Visitor: Pittsburgh Penguins

Home: New York Islanders

Date: October 3, 2009

Scoring:

Team 1 2 3 OT SO Final

PIT 1 0 2 0 1 4

NYI 1 1 1 0 0 3

Visitor playmakers:

Sidney Crosby, Mark Eaton, Ruslan Fedotenko

Home playmakers:

Mark Streit, John Tavares, Trent Hunter

Network: NHL Network rebroadcast

Announcers: Paul Steigerwald, Bob Errey

Pregame: Yes – puck drop ceremony

Intermissions: No

Postgame: Yes – NHL On The Fly

Commercials: No

Grade: 9/10

Notes: Just when it seemed John Tavares' NHL debut would be perfect, Sidney Crosby wrecked the ending for the prized rookie and the New York Islanders. The 22-year-old Crosby had a goal and assist to reach 400 career points in only 292 NHL games, and then netted the shootout winner in a 4-3 victory over the Islanders on Saturday night. Until New York squandered a pair of one-goal leads in the third period, the night belonged to Tavares - the first pick in this year's draft. He scored a go-ahead goal and added an assist, but couldn't come through in the opening-night shootout. Tavares went second for New York in the shootout and fired wide. Jeff Tambellini rang a shot off the post on the Islanders' first attempt before Penguins defenseman Kris Letang beat Dwayne Roloson in the tiebreaker.

Roloson, in his Islanders debut, looked sharp in making 39 traditional saves. Marc-Andre Fleury was just as good in stopping 25 shots.

Crosby staked the Penguins to a 1-0 lead, taking a long banked pass off the boards in front of the penalty box and racing into the New York zone. Crosby made a sharp cut to the center of the ice, darting in front of chasing defenseman Witt, and sliding a shot past Roloson.

Tavares helped set up Mark Streit's tying goal in the first period and then scored to give the Islanders a 2-1 lead. When he backhanded a loose puck past Fleury during a power play at 7:09, Tavares went down to a knee and pumped his fist as his equally excited teammates raced over to celebrate with him. Trent Hunter retrieved the puck for the new face of the franchise. Tavares nearly added a second goal in the middle period when he came in on a breakaway, but Fleury deftly deflected the drive away with his glove.

Tavares earned the secondary assist on Streit's goal during a 5-on-3 advantage that was set up by a pass from Okposo. New York received a double power play after Witt laid out Fedotenko with a jarring shoulder-to-shoulder hit at the blue line. Jay McKee received an instigator penalty for jumping in to fight Witt, and defending scoring champion Evgeni Malkin was whistled for interference at the same time.

Tavares' arrival and his quick start have already provided hope that the Islanders might be able to turn things around after posting the NHL's worst record last season (26-47-9).

Just 17 seconds after defenseman Mark Eaton lifted Pittsburgh into a 2-2 tie 7:19 into the third, Trent Hunter restored New York's lead with a one-timed shot from the right circle. Ruslan Fedotenko - shaken up earlier on a hard hit from New York's Brendan Witt - banked a shot off the skate of Islanders defenseman Bruno Gervais with 3:49 left in regulation to make it 3-3.

Crosby scored his second goal of the season just 8:50 in on a breakaway. Crosby also scored Friday in the Penguins' season-opening 3-2 victory over the New York Rangers after the championship banner

NOTES: Tavares had three assists in four preseason games. ... Bylsma made his NHL head coaching debut at Nassau Coliseum on Feb. 16, one day after replacing the fired Michel Therrien. This was Pittsburgh's first visit to Long Island since then. ... Former Islanders captain Bill Guerin, now with the Penguins, was welcomed back and congratulated for the Penguins' Cup title. Guerin was dealt to Pittsburgh by New York at last season's trade deadline.

Running time: 2:26 (2 discs)