Islanders Rise to the Occasion, 7-5 : Game 6: Undermanned but determined, they force a seventh game against two-time defending Stanley Cup champions.

The New York Islanders, without their star and their captain, but not without heart and soul, beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, 7-5, Wednesday night to force a seventh game in their Patrick Division final series.

With Pierre Turgeon out with a shoulder injury and captain Patrick Flatley out with a bad knee, the Islanders put on a dazzling display of guts and talent at Nassau Coliseum Wednesday night. Brian Mullen and Steve Thomas scored third-period goals that set up a Game 7 in Pittsburgh Friday night.

It’s nothing less than seventh heaven for the Islanders. The Penguins had Mario Lemieux Wednesday night, playing his full role of penalty-killing and on the power play, yet the Islanders had all 18 skaters going like gangbusters in as spirited a Stanley Cup playoff game as you are likely to see.

Kevin Stevens’ power-play goal at 17:28 put a scare into the Islanders, but Uwe Krupp scored into an empty net with 17.3 seconds remaining.

It’s one thing to want to get off to a fast start and another thing to do it. When Brad Dalgarno scored 25 seconds into the game, he gave the Islanders both hope and something they hadn’t had before in this series: the first goal.

Darius Kasparaitis’ shot from the top of the left circle bounced off Tom Barrasso’s pads and Dalgarno broke loose in front of the net to bat in the rebound.

That very first shift, with Travis Green at center, Claude Loiselle at left wing, Kasparaitis and Rich Pilon on defense, showed clearly what the Islanders would do: attack relentlessly. The defenseman were pinching and the forwards chasing pucks into the corners.

The two-time champions did not panic at this strategy. They held their composure and tied the game at 6:47 when rookie center Martin Straka scored at 7:19, faking a pass to his left and beating Glenn Healy low to the right.

Derek King came back 32 seconds later to beat Barrasso with a wrist shot from deep in the left circle, and then Healy came up big twice to protect the lead.

After Kasparaitis overskated a puck near the Islanders’ blue line, Stevens bore down on Healy from the right side. Kasparaitis got back to tie up Stevens just as he got to the top$of the crease and Healy lunged to knock the puck off his stick.

The second came on a Lemieux break-in when the Penguins had a short power-play advantage near the end of the first period. Lemieux got through the defense but his shot went right into Healy’s pads.

The second period had all the makings of the wild and wooly third period of Game 4. The two teams scored five goals and the Penguins got out of the period with a 4-4 tie.

Lemieux flipped a shot through Healy’s legs at 1:16 to tie the game at 2. Then the Islanders got a huge break when Penguins center Ron Francis, one of the best two-way players in the league, caught Green in the face with a high stick, drawing blood. Francis was given a five-minute major and was ejected.