UNIONDALE, N.Y. - John Tavares scored his second goal of the game with 9:49 left, and the New York Islanders tied their first-round NHL series with the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday night with a wild 6-4 victory.

Only the final lead was safe in Game 4.

Tavares slammed in his own rebound in front after Brad Boyes fed him following a turnover by Penguins star Evgeni Malkin. It was the Islanders’ third one-goal advantage in the game and the one that earned them a 2-2 tie in the series that has featured 5-4 and 6-4 finishes at Nassau Coliseum.

Tavares was serenaded with cheers of “M-V-P” from the frantic crowd that is believing an upset is possible. Casey Cizikas shoved in a shot with 1:16 left to add some much-needed insurance.

Brian Strait, captain Mark Streit, and Kyle Okposo also had goals, and Evgeni Nabokov made 27 saves for the eighth-seeded Islanders, who know they will last at least six games with the top-seeded Penguins.

Game 5 is Thursday in Pittsburgh.

James Neal, in his return after injuring his ankle in the series opener, scored in the first period. Malkin added a tying goal in the second, and Brandon Sutter and Pascal Dupuis provided the Penguins with two one-goal leads they couldn’t protect.

Marc-Andre Fleury stopped only 18 shots during a difficult night.

Dupuis gave the Penguins their second lead of the night just 41 seconds into the third period when he tipped in a shot from Chris Kunitz. It was Dupuis’ fourth goal of the series.

The Islanders responded again, just as Pittsburgh did in erasing two one-goal deficits. Mark Streit scored the tying goal when his shot from the center of the blue line hit the skate of Penguins defenseman Douglas Murray and found its way in.

A second-period goal originally credited to Streit was changed to Tavares.

The game continued its back-and-forth trend in the second period with each team giving up a one-goal lead, leading to a 3-3 tie heading into the third.

Tavares put New York back in front when a shot by Streit from the left point struck his stick and caromed past Fleury to make it 2-1 with a long-awaited, power-play goal.The Islanders had scored only one man-advantage goal in 11 chances over the first three games of the series, and then failed on their first three opportunities in this one before connecting.

But as in the first period, the Islanders didn’t enjoy the lead for long. Just 58 seconds later, Malkin raced into the New York end on a 2-on-1 rush and snapped a shot in from the right circle for his second of the series.

Pittsburgh then grabbed its first lead on Sutter’s first career playoff point. The son of Brent Sutter, a two-time Stanley Cup champion with the Islanders, snapped a shot from the left circle that beat a screened Nabokov over the left shoulder.

However, the young Islanders weren’t deterred, and they got even with 1:24 remaining in the middle period.

Okposo continued his superb series by scoring for the third consecutive game, with some help from Fleury. Okposo sent the puck from behind the Penguins’ net toward the front near the right post. Fleury was there, facing in Okposo’s direction, when the puck hit him while he was crouched and found its way in.

SENATORS 3, CANADIENS 2, OT

OTTAWA - Kyle Turris scored 2:32 into overtime, lifting the Ottawa Senators past the Montreal Canadiens to grab a 3-1 lead in their playoff series.

Turris’ shot from the sideboards sneaked past Montreal backup goalie Peter Budaj, who came on for the injured Carey Price at the start of overtime.

Cory Conacher scored with 22.6 seconds to go in regulation to force overtime. Mika Zibanejad had the other goal for the Senators, who got 26 saves from Craig Anderson.

P.K. Subban and Alex Galchenyuk scored 62 seconds apart in the second period for Montreal. Price made 30 saves two nights after allowing all six goals in Ottawa’s 6-1 victory in Game 3. He was injured on Conacher’s tying goal late in the third period.

BLACKHAWKS 3, WILD 0

ST. PAUL, Minn. - Patrick Sharp scored two goals for Chicago and the Blackhawks ratcheted up their defense, putting the Minnesota Wild on the brink of elimination.

Bryan Bickell also scored and Corey Crawford made 25 saves for the Blackhawks, who built a 3-1 lead in this bestof-7 series.

The Wild had another goalie get hurt when Josh Harding’s injury forced Darcy Kuemper into action after the first intermission. Sharp scored on Chicago’s first shot at the rookie 62 seconds into the second period.

Minnesota, the only one of the 16 NHL playoff teams without a power-play goal this postseason, went scoreless in six man-advantage situations and is 0 for 15 in the series.

At a glance NHL PLAYOFFS All times Central

FIRST ROUND (Best-of-7)

TUESDAY’S GAMES

Ottawa 3, Montreal 2, OT Ottawa leads series 3-1

NY Islanders 6, Pittsburgh 4 Series tied 2-2

Chicago 3, Minnesota 0 Chicago leads series 3-1

San Jose 4, Vancouver 3, OT San Jose wins series 4-0

TODAY’S GAMES

Boston at Toronto, 6 p.m. Boston leads series 2-1

Washington at NY Rangers, 6:30 p.m. Washington leads series 2-1

Los Angeles at St. Louis, 8 p.m. Series tied 2-2

Detroit at Anaheim, 9 p.m. Series tied 2-1

Sports, Pages 26 on 05/08/2013