Penguins 4, Islanders 2: Brandon Sutter’s goal early in the third period proved to be the game-winner as Pittsburgh held off host New York for its fourth straight victory.

James Neal opened the scoring with his sixth of the season and defenseman Simon Despres doubled the advantage for the Penguins, who led by two after two periods despite being outshot 24-14. Marc-Andre Fleury finished with 32 saves.

Michael Grabner and Brad Boyes scored 35 seconds apart to bring New York within one with plenty of time remaining in the third period. The Islanders finished 0-for-7 on the power play for the second straight game.

Sutter increased Pittsburgh’s lead to 3-0 at 1:44 of the third when he finished a 2-on-1 with Matt Cooke by firing a wrist shot past the glove of Evgeni Nabokov, who stopped 22 shots. Ninety seconds later, Grabner tapped a cross-slot pass from Kyle Okposo into a wide-open net to get the Islanders on the board.

Boyes made it 3-2 on the next shift, collecting the rebound from a point shot through traffic and putting it to his backhand to find a way around Fleury. The Islanders had chances to tie late in the third but couldn't capitalize, and Pascal Dupuis added an empty-netter for the Penguins with 39 seconds remaining.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Emotions were running high as Islanders RW Colin McDonald returned from a three-game suspension for hitting Penguins D Ben Lovejoy, culminating in a fight between New York LW Matt Martin and Pittsburgh LW Tanner Glass in the final minute of the first period. … New York defeated the Penguins 4-1 in Pittsburgh last Tuesday. The Penguins haven’t lost since. … The Islanders are 0-3-0 this season when they fail to score with the man advantage.