The New York Times-20080125-Islanders Enter All-Star Break With a Loss

Return to: The_New_York_Times-20080125

Islanders Enter All-Star Break With a Loss

Full Text (604  words)

Marc Savard and Dennis Wideman each had a goal and an assist to lift the Boston Bruins to a 4-1 victory at home against the Islanders on Thursday night.

Tim Thomas made 28 saves and Zdeno Chara added two assists for the Bruins, who have won four of their past of six games and will head into the All-Star break seeded seventh in the Eastern Conference. The Islanders, who lost for the first time in five road games, have dropped 4 of 6.

Guys were thinking about the break before it even started, Islanders Coach Ted Nolan said. It's hard not to be distracted. It's hard enough to win when you're not, never mind when you are.

Wideman and Milan Lucic scored goals 52 seconds apart to give the Bruins a 2-0 lead with 9 minutes 40 seconds left in the first period.

Savard made the score 3-0 when he scored from two feet above the goal line in the second period.

Mike Sillinger scored the Islanders' goal 6:45 into the third period.

CANADIENS 4, DEVILS 3 Chris Higgins scored a power-play goal with 5:29 remaining to cap a three-goal third period and give visiting Montreal a victory against the Devils.

Brian Smolinski scored twice for Montreal, which got its 17th road victory of the season. Smolinski scored off a rebound from Andrei Markov's shot, slicing the lead to 3-2.

The Devils had leads of 2-0 and 3-1, thanks to two goals from Patrick Elias and one from Jamie Langenbrunner.

SENATORS 8, LIGHTNING 4 Daniel Alfredsson had three goals and four assists for an Ottawa-record seven points, leading the Senators at Tampa Bay.

Alfredsson had a goal and his 500th career assist in the second.

Tampa Bay's John Tortorella coached his 507th game, breaking a tie with Herb Brooks for the most games coached by an American-born N.H.L. coach.

CAPITALS 2, MAPLE LEAFS 1 Brooks Laich and Viktor Kozlov scored, and Alex Ovechkin assisted on both goals in Washington's victory against visiting Toronto.

The victory moved the Capitals to a point behind the Southeast Division leader, Carolina.

FLYERS 4, PENGUINS 3 Mike Knuble and Jim Vandermeer scored third-period goals to lift host Philadelphia against Pittsburgh.

Evgeni Malkin scored his 27th goal for the Penguins, and Petr Sykora and Ryan Whitney also scored.

OILERS 4, PANTHERS 3 Jarret Stoll scored twice in the final 1:23 of regulation to force overtime and help Edmonton win in Florida in a shootout.

Shawn Horcoff scored the only goal in the shootout, and Oilers goalie Mathieu Baron stopped Nathan Horton, Kamil Kreps and Olli Jokinen.

WILD 3, AVALANCHE 2 Pavol Demitra had a goal and an assist and Niklas Backstrom stopped 28 shots, lifting Minnesota to a victory in Colorado.

Demitra's 10th goal of the season gave the Wild a 3-2 lead heading into the third. Minnesota is 20-0 this season when taking a lead into final period.

SABRES 2, STARS 1 Derek Roy scored both of the Sabres' goals, including the game-winner with 14:48 left, and Buffalo beat host Dallas.

It was only the second victory in 14 games for Buffalo.

BLUE JACKETS 1, BLACKHAWKS 0 Pascal Leclaire made 30 saves for his league-leading eighth shutout and Jared Boll scored as Columbus won in Chicago.

Nikolai Khabibulin made his first start in six games and had 26 saves.

COYOTES 4, PREDATORS 3 Zbynek Michalek scored with 29 seconds left in overtime on a 40-foot clap shot to give host Phoenix a victory over Nashville.

Radim Vrbata scored three goals and assisted on the winner for the Coyotes, who improved to 18-0-0 when they score four goals or more.