PITTSBURGH – Hail to the new chief. The Islanders are a team again. Bill Stewart’s Islanders.

The Isles did so much right last night after doing so much wrong for the past several weeks under Mike Milbury. They won for the first time this season when the opponent scores first, broke their 11-game winless streak (0-10-1) by posting their first win of the year – a stunning 5-2 domination of the Penguins at the Igloo in Stewart’s NHL head-coaching debut. You know times are ‘a changin’ when Joe Sacco pots the game-winner.

‘I liked our will to win,” said Stewart, who received the news of his promotion at 4 p.m. yesterday. “I haven’t seen that in a while. We played tenacious. Tonight was a good yardstick to measure the character of this team. But we have a long way to go.”

The Isles (14-29-3) can enter the All-Star break with a shred of dignity.

“Anytime you have a coaching change, the initial reaction is not different than when you get a new boss,” captain Trevor Linden said. “You change the way you go about things. It was no fun doing what we were doing. It certainly changes the outlook on things. We wake up tomorrow with a different feeling.”

Stewart now has on his hands a brewing goaltending controversy. Tommy Salo replaced Felix Potvin in the nets and made 26 saves in his first outing since Jan. 7. Potvin, who started the last four games, was 0-4 with a 3.87 goals against average.

The decision to start Salo was made before the coaching change, on the flight Wednesday night to Pittsburgh. “He certainly showed some resiliency after what he’s been through the last few days,” Stewart said.

Asked whom the No. 1 goalie is, Stewart said “As of 10:40 p.m., Tommy is.”

The Isles were 0-21-1 when the opposition scored first, so they looked cooked when Jiri Slegr scored 2:14 into the game. But Claude Lapointe answered back 1:18 later. Robert Reichel, off a great feed from Bryan Smolinski, tied the score at 2.

Sacco put the Isles on top for good at 10:47 of the second and Mark Lawrence rapped in a centering pass to make it 4-2 at 9:15 of the third. Lapointe buried an empty-netter with six seconds remaining.