May 12, 2013 3 min read

UNIONDALE, N.Y. – Brooks Orpik’s goal would have been memorable even if wasn’t in overtime and didn’t put the Pittsburgh Penguins into the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.

When you are a defensive-minded defenseman with only 12 goals in nine NHL seasons, they all tend to stand out.

Orpik fired a slap shot from the left point that hit the back of the net 7:49 into overtime Saturday night to give the Penguins a 4-3 victory over the New York Islanders that ended the Eastern Conference first-round series in six games.

The top-seeded Penguins advanced to face the No. 7 Ottawa Senators despite being outshot 38-21 in the decisive win.

Orpik had never scored in 77 previous playoff games and didn’t have one in the past 106 contests of any kind since his last goal, also against the Islanders, on Nov. 21, 2011.

“Felt great, of course, to score. I don’t score too many,” Orpik said.

Evgeni Malkin moved the puck from behind the net to Tyler Kennedy, who fed it to Orpik. The drive might have clipped Islanders forward Brad Boyes on its way past goalie Evgeni Nabokov.

“I’m definitely not a goal-scorer, but he laid it right on a tee for me,” Orpik said. “I wish I can say I was trying to go there, but I was just trying to put it on net, and found a hole.”

The Islanders were just 5:16 away from sending the series back to Pittsburgh for one more game when another defenseman, Paul Martin, got the Penguins even for the third time.

“It’s great to finish it, I tell you that,” goalie Tomas Vokoun said. “We got everything we could have handled. They played great and it was a tough series.”

Evgeni Malkin assisted on the tying and winning goals. On Martin’s goal, Malkin curled behind the New York net with the puck and sent a hard pass high in the zone to Martin, who ripped a drive through traffic in front.

Michael Grabner had given the Islanders a 3-2 edge 2:21 into the third.

He scored his second career NHL postseason goal off a feed from Keith Aucoin to give the Islanders their third lead — on their 30th shot – against the top-seeded Penguins. The goal left Vokoun sprawled on his stomach.

The teams had alternated wins since the Penguins took the opener 5-0 at home. Pittsburgh got into position to advance to the second round for the first time since 2010 when it won 4-0 in Game 5 with Vokoun in goal instead of Marc-Andre Fleury.

“To be thrown into the middle of a series and play the way he did, that’s huge,” Penguins captain Sidney Crosby said. “They carried the play and had a lot of great chances. He was sturdy and solid for us.”

Vokoun had trouble early matching the success he had all season against the Islanders, but still pulled out the win. The Penguins had lost all three previous postseason meetings with the Islanders — including two defeats in Game 7.

Counting the regular season and his shutout win Thursday in Game 5, Vokoun entered with a 4-0 mark, an 0.69 goals-against average, and .977 save percentage this year in five games against the Islanders.