Sports

NHL

Satan's score lifts Islanders

Associated Press
Published October 20, 2005

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NEW YORK - Miroslav Satan waited for Henrik Lundqvist to make the first move.

After watching Lundqvist stay deep in the crease to stop Alexei Yashin's backhander on the first attempt in a shootout, Satan fired a wrist shot past the rookie to help the New York Islanders beat the Rangers 3-2 on Wednesday night.

"I just watched the goalie to see what he was going to do. I was just trying to focus on him," Satan said. "He stayed in, so I shot."

Satan, who had a power-play goal in the third period, was the only shooter to score in the shootout, the first of the season for both teams.

"I'm not that big of fan it," Satan said. "I don't think the players like the pressure of a shootout, but it makes the game exciting for the fans."

After Satan scored, the Rangers' Jaromir Jagr broke his stick on a wrist shot, with Rick DiPietro easily stopping the puck.

"That certainly was a break for us," Islanders coach Steve Stirling said.

In the final round of the shootout, the Islanders' Mark Parrish missed the net and the Rangers' Michael Nylander also fired wide to end the game and give the Islanders their first victory over the Rangers in 11 games.

The Islanders were swept by the Rangers in six games in 2003-04 and were 0-8-2 in their previous 10 meetings since a 3-1 victory at Madison Square Garden on Nov. 23, 2002.

DiPietro, who made 33 saves, was back in goal after sustaining a concussion last week in Washington and missing a 5-1 loss to Philadelphia on Saturday night.

"He was at the top of his game," Stirling said. "The time off was good for him."

The game was the first of three between the teams in nine days. They will meet again Thursday night at Nassau Coliseum and Oct. 27 at Madison Square Garden.

"This series is intense. We're going to try to keep it going tomorrow," Satan said.

The Eastern Conference-leading Rangers had won their last three games, all at home and all with Lundqvist in goal. The 23-year-old Swede, starting in place of Kevin Weekes, beat Florida 4-0 on Monday night for his first NHL shutout.

WILD 6, SHARKS 1: Manny Fernandez made 34 saves and host Minnesota scored five goals in the third period to beat San Jose.

Derek Boogaard's first NHL goal put the Wild ahead for good early in the third, and Marc Chouinard, Pierre-Marc Bouchard, Jason White and Filip Kuba then scored for the Wild in their second straight win.

White had two assists for Minnesota, which finished its four-game homestand with a 3-1 record.

BLUES 3, MIGHTY DUCKS 2: Eric Brewer scored with 56 seconds left in regulation as host St. Louis beat Anaheim.

The game appeared headed for overtime when the Mighty Ducks' Teemu Selanne scored a power-play goal at 18:44 to tie the game 2-2. But Brewer beat Anaheim's Ilya Bryzgalov with a wrist shot from just inside the blue line to give the Blues the lead.

Bryzgalov was playing because starting goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere had to leave the game with a groin strain at 16:55 of the second period. Bryzgalov allowed two goals on 14 shots. Giguere was 2-2-1 with a 3.13 goals against average.

KINGS 5, AVALANCE 4: Craig Conroy scored the winning goal with 58 seconds left as visiting Los Angeles rallied from a 4-1 deficit to beat Colorado.

Conroy scored his first goal of the season, beating David Aebischer after the goaltender went behind the net and stopped the puck for defenseman Rob Blake.

Blake arrived late and instead, Alexander Frolov got to the puck and rifled a pass to Conroy, who put it by Aebischer from point-blank range.

BLUE JACKETS: Goaltender Pascal Leclaire and right wing Jaroslav Balastik were sent down to Columbus' AHL affiliate in Syracuse. Goaltender Martin Prusek was recalled.

[Last modified October 20, 2005, 01:20:19]

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