Islanders - Penguins 4 - Islanders 3 in shootout; Tavares scores 1st career goal

A night after defeating the New York Rangers in their home opener, Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins spoiled the New York Islanders home opener with a 4-3 win in a shootout. The night was more than just the Islanders home opener, as it is also the day of Charles Wang's deadline for a "yes" or "no" on the Lighthouse project. Wang never got an answer and stated in a press conference that he will be exploring all options. Throughout the sell out crowd of 16,234, fans showed their support by waving and holding up fan made Lighthouse project signs that I helped distribute. Hopefully that showed how bad Long Island wants the Lighthouse project. Now to the game. It was a solid game that was filled with energy and excitement. Sidney Crosby put the Penguins on the board first with a wrist shot that found the back of the net 8:50 into the game to make it 1-0. The small lead didn't last long as Mark Streit scored a power play goal on a slap shot at the 12:40 mark which was assisted by Kyle Okposo and John Tavares (Tavares first career point). In the 2nd period on a power play, John Tavares would give the Islanders a 2-1 lead on a back hand shot for his first career NHL goal (7:09 mark), assisted by Matt Moulson and Trent Hunter. Pittsburgh would tie the game at 2 in the 3rd period at 7:19 thanks to a slap shot, by Adam Eaton, that beat Dwayne Roloson. Trent Hunter would give the Islanders a 3-2 lead just 17 seconds later (7:36) on a beautiful snap shot (assisted by Josh Bailey and Mark Streit). At 16:11, former Islander Ruslan Fedotenko beat Roloson on a wrist shot to tie it up at 3. The goal would force overtime and eventually force a shootout. Jeff Tambellini went first and was unsuccessful. Kris Letang for Pittsburgh would beat Roloson with a snap shot. John Tavares missed net as it went wide right. Sidney Crosby would end and win the game on a wrist shot for the Penguins. Despite the loss, the Islanders still come away with a point and looked like a decent team in the 1st game of the year. They were toe to toe with the defending Stanley Cup Champions and that's not bad for a young team.

Players of the Game
1) Sidney Crosby (1 G, 1 A and game winning goal in shootout)
2) John Tavares (1st career NHL goal, 1st career NHL assist)
3) Mark Streit (1 G, 1 A)

Next up: Islanders play Senators in Ottawa on October 8th.
Photo Credit - Newsday/Getty Images