Justin Brazeau scored the go-ahead goal with 5:39 remaining in the third period, helping the host Pittsburgh Penguins spoil the debut of top draft pick Matthew Schaefer with a 4-3 victory over the New York Islanders on Thursday.
Evgeni Malkin’s diagonal outlet pass sprung Brazeau to skate in and backhand the puck past Ilya Sorokin for his third goal of the season. Brazeau tallied twice in Pittsburgh’s 3-0 victory over the New York Rangers on Tuesday.
Malkin collected a goal and two assists, captain Sidney Crosby had one of each and rookie defenseman Harrison Brunicke also tallied to become the first South African-born skater to score a goal in the NHL.
Rickard Rakell notched two assists and Tristan Jarry turned aside 34 shots for the Penguins.
Schaefer, at 18 years and 34 days old, notched an assist on Jonathan Drouin’s first-period goal to become the youngest defenseman in NHL history to collect a point in his NHL debut. The No. 1 overall pick is 12 days younger than Hall of Famer Scott Niedermayer was when he set the previous mark on Oct. 16, 1991.
Kyle Palmieri and Maxim Shabanov each scored a goal and Sorokin made 24 saves in the Islanders’ season opener.
With his team on a four-on-three advantage in the second period, Malkin gained possession of the puck just above the goal line. He alertly banked the puck off Crosby’s stick as the latter went to a knee on the doorstep while fending off New York defenseman Ryan Pulock to give Pittsburgh a 3-2 lead at 8:58 of the period.
Shabanov unleashed a one-timer off a feed from Simon Holmstrom to forge a 3-3 tie with 41 seconds left in the second period.
Malkin poked home a loose puck to open the scoring at 3:23 of the first period before Schaefer recorded his first point to level the contest nearly nine minutes later. The rookie gained entry into the offensive zone and wired a sharp feed from the left circle to the slot for Drouin, who fluttered a shot past Jarry.
Palmieri wired a shot from the right circle that beat Jarry at 4:04 into the second period, but Brunicke answered 97 seconds later by depositing a drop pass from Filip Hallander past Sorokin for his first career NHL goal.
