Third period leads are never safe on Long Island. For the fourth time in the last five games, the Islanders saw a late game lead disappear, this time to the visiting Pittsburgh Penguins. Tyler Kennedy's second goal of the game tied the score at 3-3 with just 3:15 left in regulation and Petr Sykora scored the only goal in the shootout as the Pens edged the Islanders 4-3.

The story was a familiar one for the Islanders. They played 40 minutes of strong hockey, holding the Penguins to just 11 shots on goal after two periods. Then, in the third period, the Islanders stopped skating and were dominated in all facets of the game. The Penguins outshot the Isles 18-1 in the final stanza and evened the game on Kennedy's late goal.

Sykora scored for Pittsburgh in the first round of the shootout. After New York's Bill Guerin and Pittsburgh's Miro Satan failed to score, the Isles' last chance belonged to Trent Hunter. Hunter's shot was stopped by Penguin goalie Dany Sabourin but the shot's momentum pushed most of Sabourin's body behind the goal line. A video review was deemed inconclusive and the Penguins' 4-3 win was official.

"It was a tough call," Sabourin said. "It was pretty close. The puck was in my pad where my knee was. There’s no way [the officials] could see the puck."

Islanders' coach Scott Gordon was frustrated with his team's latest third period folding act. "What we were able to do for two periods was pretty impressive but at the end of the day in the third period, we had opportunities to change that momentum and we couldn't do it."

The first period was a tight checking affair in which neither team had many scoring opportunities. The Islanders outshot the Penguins 5-3 and scored the only goal of the opening 20 minutes. Andy Hilbert's dump in deflected off the skate of Penguins' defenseman, Hall Gill and off the stick of Guerin. The loose puck came to Doug Weight at the left circle and he lifted a wrist shot over Sabourin's glove and into the net.

After Kennedy's first goal evening things up early in the second period. Tim Jackman scored his first goal of the season on the rebound of a Weight shot from just outside the crease. Hilbert increased the New York lead to 3-1 at the 14:30 mark of the second off a pretty pass from Kyle Okposo. Hilbert took his time in front of the net and beat Sabourin low on the glove side with a backhander.

Jordan Staal scored on a breakaway with 5:59 left in the second to pull Pittsburgh to within a goal. Isles' defenseman Bruno Gervais was unable to corral a bouncing puck and Staal went in behind him on a breakaway before beating Isles' goalie Joey MacDonald.

The third period was all Penguins. The Islanders didn't even manage a shot on net for the first 17:46 while the Penguins managed 18 and kept almost constant pressure on the Islander net before Kennedy scored the equalizer.

"It’s terrible,” remarked Islander defenseman Andy Sutton, who had two assists in the game. "If you lose and learn from it, it’s one thing, but if you lose and don’t learn from it, it’s completely another. You have to make a decision on how you want to play and stick with it."

Both teams had excellent scoring chances in the overtime with Guerin just missing in the final seconds which led to the shootout and another Islander loss.

Despite the frustration growing in the New York locker room, the team tried to remain positive. "I don't know what it is. We play so well and get the lead going into the third and then we just sort of sit back and let them come," goalie Joey MacDonald said. "We're a good team but we just have to keep putting the pressure on them and good things will happen."

"We just didn't put 60 minutes together," Hilbert explained. "We've had trouble, for whatever reason, in doing that and we're going to have to figure it out soon. It's frustrating but we have to take the positives out of it. We did get a point. We have to learn from it and move on."

The Islanders will host the Flyers in a Veterans Day matinee at the Nassau Coliseum. Pittsburgh will face the Red Wings Tuesday night at the Joe Louis Arena.

NOTES

Jackman played his first game for the Islanders this season and scored his first goal. He replaced Nate Thompson who is out 2-4 weeks with a groin injury which he suffered in Thursday night's game against Atlanta.

Sean Bergenheim returned to the lineup after missing the last three games with a virus. The Isles also sent forward Mitch Fritz down to Bridgeport.

New York credited with 29 blocked shots in the game, led by Andy Sutton's eight.

Ex-Islanders Miro Satan and Ruslan Fedotenko made their first appearance at the Nassau Coliseum since signing with the Penguins during the offseason. Satan was booed by the fans each time he touched the puck.

Pittsburgh defenseman Hal Gill played in his 800th career NHL game.

Sidney Crosby played despite missing practice on Friday with an undisclosed injury. He played 24:14 and was held off the scoreboard.