PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Penguins enter January with momentum and — they hope anyway — an identity that can sustain them for the grueling stretch to come.
Alex Nedeljkovic made 37 saves, Lars Eller scored twice and the Penguins held off the New York Islanders 3-1 on Sunday night for their fifth win in six games.
Pittsburgh is 7-1-1 overall over its last nine to climb into the Eastern Conference wild-card race as the the season's midpoint nears. Perhaps more importantly than winning is the way the Penguins are playing. They're largely avoiding the defensive lapses that cost them earlier in the season and getting a little offensive help from the bottom two lines to take some of the pressure off stars Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin.