PITTSBURGH — All Marc-Andre Fleury ever wants to do is give his team a chance to stay in the game.

The Pittsburgh Penguins’ goalie did that and more on Thursday against the New York Islanders.

Fleury had 31 of his 35 saves through two periods, keeping the game close and allowing Sidney Crosby to score the tiebreaking goal late in the third to lead the Penguins to a 4-2 victory over the Islanders.

“We were under a lot of pressure, we were on our heels and he made some huge saves that allowed us to keep the lead,” Penguins’ coach Mike Sullivan said. “He was terrific.”

Fleury faced just five shots in the third period while starting for the eighth straight game. Fleury won for the 19th time in his last 24 home starts and has given up two or fewer goals in five of the first six home games.

“I know the guys are trying hard,” Fleury said. “I’m just trying to keep the score close and keep them ahead.”

Patric Hornqvist, Evgeni Malkin and Phil Kessel also scored — each getting his third of the season — to help the defending champion Penguins win for the third time in four games and improve to 5-0-1 at home.

Crosby, playing for the second straight game after missing the first six with a concussion, scored with 2:25 left as he caught a pass from Scott Wilson at the top of the crease and quickly turned to his forehand to put the puck behind Islanders goalie Jaroslav Halak.

Crosby, now has points in 10 straight regular season games dating back to last season.

Kessel added a power-play goal to cap the scoring 32 seconds later.

Travis Hamonic and Shane Prince scored for the Islanders, who fell to 0-3-0 on the road.

Malkin broke a 1-1 tie with 7:12 left in the third as he took a pass from Kessel and placed a shot between Halak’s pads.