Isles strand Crosby's point streak

The way Sidney Crosby has owned the New York Islanders, no one could have predicted his greatest scoring run would be wrecked by them.

Crosby's streak of 25 games with at least a point - tied for the 11th longest in NHL history - was snapped by the host Islanders and goalie Rick DiPietro, who stopped the Pittsburgh captain and the rest of the Penguins' high-powered offense in a 2-1 shootout victory last night.

"That wasn't me. It was a complete team effort," DiPietro said. "The defensive corps played with a lot of focus and a lot of heart. When we're playing smart in our defensive zone, we're a good hockey team."

Crosby had scored in every game since Nov. 3 at Dallas. The run, in which Crosby had 26 goals and 24 assists, was the longest in the NHL since Quebec's Mats Sundin had a 30-game streak during the 1992-93 season.

"It would've been nice to keep things going, but it was one of those games," Crosby said.

Crosby also had goals in five consecutive games before being shut down by the Islanders, the team he has victimized the most - along with the Flyers - with 62 points in 33 career games. Crosby also was denied on Pittsburgh's second shootout attempt when DiPietro made a pad save.

"There was a few [chances] out there for him and his linemates," Penguins coach Dan Bylsma said. "I'm sure we'll see another streak."

Josh Bailey gave the Islanders a 1-0 lead in the second period, but Chris Conner tied it before the frame was over.

That left the game in the hands of DiPietro and Pittsburgh's Marc-Andre Fleury, the only goalies to be chosen No. 1 overall in the NHL draft.

DiPietro finished with 37 saves through overtime in his first outing after sitting out five games while dealing with swelling in his surgically repaired left knee. Fleury stopped 25 shots and dropped to 16-2-2 against the Islanders.

The Penguins went 19-5-1 during Crosby's streak, and had scored 21 times in the previous five games when they went 4-1. Pittsburgh will now shift its focus to the Winter Classic on Saturday against Washington at Heinz Field.

"It's always easy to look back," Crosby said. "I just try to go out there and do the same things."

By beating the NHL's top team, the Islanders can forget about their 7-2 loss to the New York Rangers on Monday.

"We didn't watch any video from that game. We put it behind us," Islanders coach Jack Capuano said. "We wanted to move forward and see what kind of character that we have."

In other games:

* At Newark, Henrik Lundqvist made a season-high 43 saves and the New York Rangers beat New Jersey, 3-1, handing the struggling Devils their sixth straight loss and leaving them winless since Jacques Lemaire took over as coach last week.

* At Ottawa, Cam Ward made 37 saves for his second shutout of the season and Zach Boychuk scored goals 3:48 apart in the first in the Carolina Hurricanes' 4-0 victory over the Senators.

* At St. Paul, Kyle Brodziak scored twice and Brent Burns had the winner in the Minnesota Wild's 5-3 comeback victory over the San Jose Sharks, 5-3.

* At Dallas, Patrick Eaves had three goals, Brad Stuart scored the tiebreaker at 5:29 of the third period, and the Detroit Red Wings rallied from a 3-1 deficit for a 7-3 victory over the Stars.

* At Glendale, Ariz., Shane Doan scored two goals and Scottie Upshall added a goal and two assists as the Phoenix Coyotes pasted the Los Angeles Kings, 6-3.

* The Dallas Stars signed defenseman Trevor Daley, 27, to a 6-year contract extension worth $19.8 million.