Penguins 5 - Islanders 6: Sillinger Stops the Streak

How often does Sidney Crosby get 4 assists in a game and the Pens still lose the game?

Blame Mike Sillinger and some sloppy defensive play, as the Penguins lost 6-5 as Sillinger scored with less than half a minute to play.

Firewagon hockey....playing with fire can get you burned. On the night, Crosby finished -2 with those 4 assists in 22:45 of ice time.

From Yahoo! Sports:

Suddenly, the Pittsburgh Penguins' standard of success has risen as quickly as their place in the Eastern Conference standings.

Just 26.8 seconds away from another productive outing, Pittsburgh allowed Mike Sillinger's winning goal that gave the New York Islanders a 6-5 comeback victory and snapped the Penguins' point streak at 16 games Monday.

Pittsburgh, riding a 14-0-2 surge that vaulted the Penguins from also-ran to Atlantic Division-contenders, got three goals from Ryan Malone, two from Mark Recchi and four assists from NHL scoring leader Sidney Crosby, but couldn't survive shaky goaltending by Marc-Andre Fleury.

He will have to be better if the Penguins hope to reach the playoffs for the first time since 2001.

"Guys in here are disappointed and upset, and that's a good thing," said Recchi, who added three assists. "We played three hockey games in such a short time, and to see people unhappy after losing the third one is a good sign."

Sillinger took a pass from Andy Hilbert in the high slot and got off a shot that hit under Fleury's glove and carried in for his 20th goal. New York, 2-1 on its seven-game homestand, rebounded from a shutout loss to New Jersey on Saturday.

"We found a way to win," Sillinger said. "When you outscore a team like this, you're doing something right."

Crosby nearly set up another goal seconds earlier, but couldn't escape Trent Hunter behind the net.

"When you score five goals on the road, you've got to win those games," Penguins coach Michel Therrien said.

Chris Simon scored twice, Viktor Kozlov, Jason Blake and Miroslav Satan added goals, and Marc-Andre Bergeron had two assists in his Islanders debut one day after being acquired from Edmonton.

"We weren't worried about their streak or anything, we were just kind of worried about ourselves," forward Arron Asham said.

Pittsburgh, which led 3-1 and 5-4, hadn't lost in regulation since Jan. 10 at Florida. It was the Penguins' longest streak since an 18-game run in 1993 that included a league-record 17 consecutive wins.

"Losing is never fun, but it was going to happen sometime," said Crosby, who has three goals and 14 assists against the Islanders. "Mentally, it's tough to go through something like that and come up short."