For the better part of the season, the Islanders have been a three-game winning streak away from forcing people to take them seriously in the playoff race. They are going to have to reset the clock on that one after Sunday.

Anders Lee scored twice in the third period but the Islanders were unable to sweep a home-and-home series with a 3-2 loss to the Penguins on Sunday night at PPG Paints Arena. Slow starts in each of the first two periods and a special teams’ disadvantage proved the difference.

NEW YORK (AP) — Casey Cizikas and Anders Lee each scored twice and the New York Islanders beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 6-3 on Saturday night. Jean-Gabriel Pageau and Anthony Duclair also scored, and Mathew Barzal and Alexander Romanov each had two assists for New York, which had lost three of four. Ilya Sorokin finished with 22 saves.