UNIONDALE, N.Y. -- Rookie defenseman Olli Maatta scored the go-ahead goal early in the second period and Evgeni Malkin added an insurance score in the third as the Pittsburgh Penguins held on for a wild 6-4 win over the New York Islanders on Thursday night.
The Islanders had a 5-on-3 power play for 50 seconds late in the third, but couldn't score against backup Jeff Zatkoff, who made 30 saves for the Eastern Conference-leading Penguins (36-13-2). Pittsburgh improved to 17-5 against Metropolitan Division opponents.
Zatkoff stopped Frans Nielsen point-blank during the power-play and denied John Tavares with a shoulder save in the closing seconds.
Brandon Sutter scored an empty-net goal for the Penguins, who trailed 2-0 early and also got goals from Chris Kunitz, Sidney Crosby and Kris Letang.
Michael Grabner, Brock Nelson, Josh Bailey and Kyle Okposo had goals for the Islanders.