Chris Kunitz is mobbed by Pens teammates after his overtime winner. Islander defenseman Andrew MacDonald  can’t watch. Getty Images/Seth Wenig

A great game was played at Nassau Coliseum. The first round series between the eighth seeded upstarts from Long Island and the heavily favored No.1 seed from Pittsburgh has been much better than expected. Following the Penguins blowout win in Game One, nothing has separated them. For a second straight game, one goal decided the outcome. This time, it went to the Pens despite blowing a two-goal lead in the third. Chris Kunitz scored at 8:34 of overtime to lead the Pens past the Islanders 5-4.

Kunitz’ power play goal gave Pittsburgh back the home ice. They lead the best-of-seven Eastern Conference Quarterfinal 2-1 with Game Four Tuesday. Kunitz scored two power play goals and had an assist. The Pens converted on three of five power plays including Kunitz’ OT winner. It wasn’t without controversy.

The goal was set up by Sidney Crosby. Crosby drew a holding penalty on Islander defenseman Brian Strait. He got a step on Strait, who reached with his hands. Sid The Kid went down fairly easily to put his team on the man-advantage. It only took them 33 seconds to end the game. Taking a pass from Paul Martin, Crosby found Kunitz all alone in the slot to beat Evgeni Nabokov top shelf.  Not shockingly, boos rained down from irate Islander fans who disagreed with the call. They weren’t alone with both NBC’s Mike Milbury and Jeremy Roenick on their side.

Stars get calls. It happens in every sport. In this case, one went against the Islanders. Was it a penalty? Absolutely. But in sudden death, refs tend to let that go and allow the teams to decide it. Unless it’s one of those ridiculous delay of games. Simply put, the Isles didn’t get the job done. They were hurt on special teams, allowing the Pens to connect three times on the power play while failing on their three chances. Kunitz shouldn’t have been so open. It was poor coverage.

Buoyed by their comeback win that evened the series, the Islanders jumped out to a 2-0 lead. Matt Moulson scored for the second consecutive game when he tucked in a loose puck from a bad angle past Marc-Andre Fleury just 1:43 in. Less than four minutes later, Casey Cizikas notched his first from Michael Grabner giving the home team a two-goal lead.

However, the Pens bounced back quickly. They got the next three to take a one-goal lead to the locker room. Aided by a five-on-three, Jarome Iginla got them on the board with his first when he deflected home a Kris Letang point shot for his first. Crosby drew the other assist. He finished with three helpers. With Travis Hamonic still in the box, Kunitz took a Evgeni Malkin feed and beat Nabokov 21 seconds later to tie the score. Letang added his second assist. With exactly a minute left in the first, Kunitz and Crosby combined to set up Pascal Dupuis for his third.

The Isles trailed despite out-shooting the Penguins 13-8. They had the better of the play in the second but couldn’t beat Fleury, who rebounded with a strong period. He stopped all eight Islander shots, including a couple of big ones on John Tavares. Instead of being tied, Fleury’s goaltending allowed his team to increase to 4-2. This time, Malkin made a great play to set up ex-Shark Doug Murray. Drawing two defenders along the right boards, he dished across for Murray, who blasted his first career postseason goal far side. Martin added his second helper.

Despite being down two, the Islanders never gave up. Instead, they showed a lot of determination to get back in it. They dominated the third out-shooting Pittsburgh 13-3 and outscoring them 2-0 to force overtime. Game Two hero Kyle Okposo sparked the comeback with a shorthanded goal. With Strait in the sin bin, Okposo out-hustled the Pens down ice. He took a Frans Nielsen pass and broke in on Fleury going five-hole to cut it to 4-3 with 14:29 remaining. He’s been the Isles’ best forward thus far, not backing down from anyone.

With the Isles down one, their best player finally stepped up. Tavares scored his first career playoff goal with 9:22 left in regulation. Taking a Josh Bailey feed, he snapped a laser from the right circle inside the far post to tie the score 4-4. The Coliseum went nuts. It marked the third time over the last two games the Islanders rallied from two back. They threatened to go ahead but Fleury made some timely saves to keep it knotted. The Pens also hit a couple of posts before OT.

Following a shaky start, the Islanders buzzed during one shift. But they only mustered two shots. There also was a close call when Grabner almost got behind two Pens for a breakaway. But in an oddity, each got a piece of the puck in mid-air to deny the opportunity. Pittsburgh then kept a play alive for Crosby, who earned the crucial power play. Following an Islanders’ clear, the Pens got setup.  Martin passed down low for Crosby, who threaded the needle for Kunitz’ game decider.

Notes: It was a crushing loss for the Islanders. They did many things well. Similar to Game Two, they took the body finishing with 32 hits to the Pens’ 29. The Isles also won the face-off battle, beating a strong opponent 32-29 on draws. Okposo was their best going seven-and-three. Tavares lost 14-of-23 mostly against Crosby, who went 13-and-11. … Fleury made 32 saves while Nabokov turned aside 20 of 25. He fell to 7-11 career in playoff OT. … Andrew MacDonald went plus-three with two takeaways and three blocks in an Islander game high 30:21. Partner Travis Hamonic finished plus-one with five hits and five blocks in 29:50. … Letang paced all skaters with 33:33 along with two assists and five hits for the Pens. Martin also had two helpers with three hits and three blocks along with a plus-two logging 31:33.

NY Puck 3 Stars:

3rd Star-Sidney Crosby, Pit (3 assists, 4 SOG, 2 blocks, 3 takeaways, -1 in 24:08)
2nd Star-Kyle Okposo, NYI (shorthanded goal-2nd of series, assist, 5 SOG, +1 in 24:23)
1st Star-Chris Kunitz, Pit (2 PPG incl. OT winner at 8:44, assist, 4 hits, -1 in 22:03)