PITTSBURGH - Jason Blake, New York's ninth shooter of an extended shootout, nearly lost the puck but recovered to steer a shot past Jocelyn Thibault and give the Islanders a 3-2 victory over the Penguins on Monday night.
As Blake came down the slot, the puck seemed to slide off his stick momentarily, but he got it back and beat Thibault by faking a backhander only to slide the puck inside the near post.
Islanders goalie Rick DiPietro stopped the Penguins' final six shooters, including Mark Recchi, Ziggy Palffy and John LeClair, to give New York its second shootout victory in two attempts. The Penguins lost the second of their three shootouts, though rookies Erik Christensen and Sidney Crosby kept the shootout going by scoring after getting Pittsburgh's goals in regulation.
Alexei Yashin and Shawn Bates scored in the second period to give the Islanders a 2-0 lead, a seemingly safe one given their 52-0-8 streak in games they've led after two.
The Penguins finally showed some life after Crosby scored his seventh goal, one-timing Christensen's pass to the slot past DiPietro after Christensen intercepted Brent Sopel's pass from behind his net.
The Penguins pressed the play from there, and Christensen tied it at 18:42 with his second career goal by taking Ric Jackman's soft pass in the right circle and beating DiPietro with a hard wrist shot.
OILERS 5, AVALANCHE 2: Chris Pronger scored his first goal for visiting Edmonton to help goalie Mike Morrison win his first career start. Pronger, the star defenseman who was traded by St. Louis after nine seasons, had nine assists and no goals over the first 19 games for the Oilers.
FLAMES 3, WILD 2: Jarome Iginla scored the winner on a power play with 1:07 left as host Calgary erased a 2-0 deficit with three goals in the third period.
VETERAN RETIRES: Kings left wing Ken Belanger, who signed a one-year deal in September, is retiring, the team said. Belanger, 31, has played in 248 NHL games.
BLUES: Dave Checketts' group withdrew from negotiations to buy the team, putting it back on the market. Owners Bill and Nancy Laurie had signed a letter of intent with Sports Capital Partners granting them exclusive rights to negotiate for 30 days to buy the team and the operating lease on the Savvis Center.
CANADIENS: Wing Alexei Kovalev is expected to miss three to four weeks after knee surgery scheduled for today. Team doctor David Mulder said there is no ligament damage and Kovalev's right knee is "absolutely" stable.
