UNIONDALE, N.Y. -- The New York Islanders and Pittsburgh Penguins invariably play entertaining games at Nassau Coliseum. Just as predictable is the visiting team emerging with a victory. Rookie defenceman Olli Maatta scored the go-ahead goal early in the second period and Evgeni Malkin added an insurance score in the third as the Penguins rallied from an early deficit and held on for a wild 6-4 win over the Islanders on Thursday night. The Islanders had a 5-on-3 power play for 50 seconds late in the third, but couldnt 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 (8-2-1) stopped Frans Nielsen point-blank during the power-play and denied John Tavares, second in the league in scoring to Pittsburghs Sidney Crosby, with a shoulder save in the closing seconds. "Jeff hung in there and was strong when he had to be," Penguins coach Dan Bylsma said of his goaltender. "He made that huge late save and showed fortitude -- as we all did -- to stay with it tonight." Brandon Sutter scored an empty-net goal for the Penguins, who trailed 2-0 early and also got goals from Crosby, Chris Kunitz and Kris Letang. Michael Grabner, Brock Nelson, Josh Bailey and Kyle Okposo had goals for the Islanders. Maatta scored his fifth of the season at 5:35 of the middle period to give the Penguins a 3-2 lead when the 19-year-old Finnish defenceman skated through the Islanders defence before sliding a backhand past Kevin Poulin. Letang scored at 17:44 after the Penguins league-best power-play unit kept the puck in the Islanders zone for nearly an entire man advantage. After hitting the post, Letang blasted the puck past Poulin for this 10th goal of the season to give Pittsburgh a two-goal cushion. Bailey pulled the Islanders within a goal at 4-3 at 3:10 of the third when he beat Zatkoff on a breakaway. The goal came after Matt Martin of the Islanders fought Pittsburghs Tanner Glass. But Malkin slapped a perfect cross-ice pass from James Neal past Poulin at 5:59 for this 14th goal. Malkin has points in 24 of 27 games since Nov. 1, with 11 goals and 30 assists during the stretch. "The emotion was there for both teams tonight as it always seems to be when we play the Islanders," Crosby said. "We found a way to stay strong and make key plays at the right times." Okposo received credit for a goal at 10:55 of the third to make it 5-4 after the puck crossed the goal line in a scrum in front of Zatkoff. The play was reviewed and the goal awarded, the 21st for Okposo. Sutter scored an empty-net goal for the Penguins at 19:56 to conclude the scoring. The Islanders surprised the Penguins with two quick first-period goals before the visitors answered with a pair of their own in the latter half of the period. Grabner whipped a loose puck past Zatkoff at 1:39. Then, Grabner set up Nelson at 8:21 to make it 2-0. Kunitz answered for the Penguins at 9:32 with a slap shot from the top of left circle past Poulin. Crosby and Maatta assisted on the 25th goal of the season for Kunitz, who will join Crosby on Team Canada at the Winter Games in Sochi next month. Then, Crosby tied it at 11:24 with his 27th goal of the season when he jammed a rebound past Poulin. "They play an aggressive style and they create opportunities," added Crosby, who also had two assists and leads the league with 72 points. "We were able to create some of our own and hold them off when we had to." The Penguins entered 26-2-1 when scoring first and 9-11-1 when they didnt. This time, they found a way to recover and overcome the Islanders (21-25-7). New York has been on a torrid streak that pulled them from a 9-19-7 record after a shootout loss to Tampa Bay on Dec. 17 within five points of a playoff spot before meeting the Penguins. The Islanders lost for just the fourth time in 14 games. "Again, it was about our battle level or the lack of it," Islanders coach Jack Capuano said. "We have to defend harder. You cant give a team with as much firepower as the Penguins all that time and space. We got away from how we have to play for about 10 minutes and it cost us." The three previous Islanders-Penguins games this season were decided by one goal. The teams split two games in Pittsburgh before Crosby capped a Penguins comeback with an overtime goal at the Coliseum on Dec. 3. Pittsburgh is 7-1-1 over its last nine and 15-3-1 in its last 19 contests. The Penguins have also won seven of their last eight regular-season games against the Islanders at Nassau Coliseum. The Penguins defeated the Islanders in a six-game first-round playoff series last May. NOTES: Crosby has 25 goals and 58 assists in 45 regular-season games against the Islanders, including 11 goals and 24 assists in 21 games at Nassau Coliseum. ... The Penguins are 11-1 in their last 12 division games. The only loss was a 2-1 setback against the Devils in Newark on Dec. 31. The Penguins are 13-4-2 in their last 19 games at Nassau Coliseum. ... The Islanders continued to be without D Travis Hamonic (upper body). JuJu Smith-Schuster Womens Jersey . Summers has seen scant playing time with the Coyotes since being selected 29th overall by the club in the 2006 NHL Entry Draft, having played in 47 career NHL games. Terrell Edmunds Steelers Jersey .S. routed Sweden 7-0 Sunday to win its fourth straight title and seventh overall under-18 world championship. Olson earned his third shutout of the tournament and the Americans allowed only four goals in six games to set an International Ice Hockey Federation under-18 record. http://www.steelerspronfl.com/Youth-Mel-Blount-Elite-Jersey/ . The teams were scoreless for most of the first two periods before Canada scored three times in a span of less than four minutes. Sarah Potomak opened the scoring on the power play. Devin Bush Youth Jersey . Toronto has lost six of its last eight games but is coming off Thursdays 7-3 victory at Kansas City. Juan Francisco and Colby Rasmus both went deep for the Blue Jays, who are second in the American League with 34 home runs on the season. Rod Woodson Steelers Jersey . Nothing pretty. But this is 1/4 World Cup. Usually plays out this way.TORONTO - DeMar DeRozan sat alone on the Raptors bench during pre-game lineup introductions. As the all-star guard stepped onto the court for the first time since being helped off of it nearly seven weeks earlier, he was greeted with a standing ovation from the sellout crowd. Honestly, just [tried to] stay level-headed, treat it like a normal game, DeRozan said after returning to action in Torontos 100-84, wire-to-wire win over Philadelphia. I didnt want to get too high on it. I understood I still had to come out here and play. I didnt want to go out there and try to do too much. Just played within the rhythm of the game. Again, the packed Air Canada Centre roared when DeRozan caught a pass from Kyle Lowry on the teams first possession, seconds into the game. Dumping it off and receiving the ball again off a curl, he would miss his first shot since tearing a tendon in his groin during a loss to Dallas on Nov. 28. It was the only jumper hed miss during a promising six-minute, first-quarter stretch. If the 25-year-old was working off any rust following a 21-game absence, he certainly didnt show it in his long-awaited return to Torontos lineup. Logging nearly 29 minutes, a few more than his predetermined cap for the night, DeRozan scored 20 points on 9-of-14 shooting. He brings a calm about it and not only that, he makes great decisions, Dwane Casey said after the win. When things get helter-skelter, when we call a play, one of the plays weve been running for a while or whatever it is, theres a calmness about him. DeRozan looked like his old self - confident, decisive and active. On his second shot of the night, he came off a screen and drained a step-back 14-footer. Later in the frame he split the defence and got to the rim for an uncontested layup. Even when he wasnt scoring, his presence was felt. Doubled in the corner, DeRozan made a difficult diagonal pass to Patrick Patterson who found Greivis Vasquez for a floater in the lane. [It was] very comfortable, said Kyle Lowry, happy to have his backcourt partner back on a night in which the point guard recorded 18 points and 12 assists. [He got] some guys some open shots, [took] some attention off me, and its always good when you get your all-star back, a guy who can get 20 points on 14 shots in such an efficient way. Despite some standout performances from his teammates while he was out - Lowry and Patterson early on, Jonas Valanciunas and James Johnson recenttly - the Raptors have missed DeRozans knack of sucking in the defence, on top of his improving ability to make plays out of those situations.dddddddddddd I think the one thing that has helped us is giving guys confidence they can play without him, Casey said ahead of Wednesdays game. It should have given [Terrence Ross] more confidence, [Johnson] more confidence to play and everybody else a comfort level of moving the ball and defending without him out there. Toronto went 12-9 in his absence, 11 of those wins coming against sub-.500 competition while six of the losses came in seven games versus winning teams. No one knew exactly what to expect from DeRozan after such a long layoff. Activated just ahead of tip-off after being labeled a game-time decision for most of the day, DeRozan seemed to take Caseys advice and ease his way into action, never forcing his game. The key thing with him, Casey had said, is to come out, be himself, do what he can, blow it out, get the rust off the pipes and let the chips fall where they may. I play slow anyway, DeRozan joked, shortly after Casey referred to his outing as an old-man game. [My conditioning was] better than what I thought it was, honestly. I thought I was going to be out there huffing and puffing but I felt good. The Raptors outscored Philadelphia by 18 points with DeRozan on the floor Wednesday, bested by two in the 19 minutes he spent on the bench. Casey felt comfortable allowing the sixth-year guard to exceed his pitch count by a few minutes because of how he was playing. And besides, DeRozan didnt make it easy on him, as expected. Once Im out there, I want to play, he admitted. I dont want to do anything thats going to jeopardize his health or re-injure it, lord forbid, again, Casey said. So if it looks like hes labouring or winded or whatever, were going to be smart about that. And if they give us a minute limitation than well go with that and make sure we try to stick with it. That way we can look out for his overall career and his health long term. Bringing him back against the seven-win 76ers gave them a chance to do that, reintegrating him into the lineup before a pair of challenging opponents - the first-place Hawks and improved Pelicans - come to town over the weekend. Casey and the Raptors will undoubtedly lean on him more in those upcoming contests and well get a better sense of where this team is at now that they have their star back. ' ' '