The Islanders had no answers for the Penguins’ firepower.
Bryan Rust had a hat trick and Sidney Crosby had a goal and an assist Saturday for the Pittsburgh Penguins, who built a five-goal lead en route to a 6-3 win over the visiting Islanders.
Frederick Gaudreau and Evan Rodrigues also scored, and Jared McCann, Kris Letang and Jake Guentzel each had two assists for Pittsburgh, which won its third straight.
Goaltender Tristan Jarry stopped 29 New York shots.
Matthew Barzal had a goal and assist, and Anthony Beauvillier and Jordan Eberle also scored for the Islanders, who had won three straight and were 14-2-1 in their previous 17.
Ilya Sorokin had his personal win streak halted at eight as he allowed four goals on nine shots. Semyon Varlamov, in relief, made 10 saves.
Gaudreau scored on Pittsburgh’s first shot for a 1-0 lead at 5:48 of the first. On his first goal as a Penguin, Gaudreau was set up in the slot by Sam Lafferty.
At 10:07 of the first, Rodrigues made it 2-0 on a shot through traffic from the top of the left circle.
Crosby picked up his fifth goal in nine games during a power play at 4:26 of the second, on a second rebound.
Rust got his first of the game 1:52 later, also on a power play. From the slot, he converted Crosby’s touch pass for a 4-0 Pittsburgh lead.
That chased Sorokin for Varlamov.
At 8:21 of the second, Rust struck again, this time on a backhander in tight to make it 5-0.
Barzal caught the Penguins in a change and grabbed a loose puck. He flew down the left side and cut in on Jarry, going backhand to forehand and elevating the puck over the goalie’s glove to cut it to 5-1 at 10:47 of the second.
Beauvillier scored on a rebound at 5:23 of the third to make it 5-2, giving him a four-game goal streak.
Eberle scored from the slot during four-on-four play but with Varlamov pulled with 2:27 left.
Rust got an empty-netter with 41.1 left for his fourth career hat trick.
