| ESPN Network: ESPN.com | NFL.com | NBA.com | NASCAR | NHL.com | WNBA.com | ABCSports | EXPN | FANTASY | INSIDER |
|
| |
Saturday, Nov. 25 7:00pm ET
Islanders drop ninth straight game | |||||
|
| ||||||
|
RECAP
|
BOX SCORE
UNIONDALE, N.Y. (AP) -- Sergei Fedorov and the New York Islanders are heading in different directions. Fedorov scored twice and added an assist to extend his point scoring streak to five games as the Detroit Red Wings handed the Islanders their eighth straight loss by winning 4-3 Saturday night. Fedorov has seven goals and four assists in his last five games, and 13 goals this season. "Scoring all those goals is a real exciting experience," Fedorov said. "It's been wonderful." After a scoreless first period, the Red Wings took a 1-0 lead at 3:27 of the second period when defenseman Mathieu Dandenault moved down low and took Nicklas Lidstrom's cross-ice pass and wristed the puck between goalie Wade Flaherty's pads. The Islanders tied it at 8:51 when Brad Isbister beat Manny Legace with a wrist shot off a faceoff. The Islanders went ahead 64 seconds later when Roman Hamrlik scored his first goal in 11 games on a turnaround slap shot from the center point. "We didn't get off to a good start," Detroit coach Scotty Bowman said of game No. 2,001 in his career. "We didn't play well in the first period, and they could have had at least two goals." Legace made a great save to keep Detroit down by only one goal. With just over five minutes left in the period, Mariusz Czerkawski moved in alone and cut across the top of the crease. Legace followed him, but went down. Czerkawski tried to flip a shot under the crossbar, but while on his back, Legace lifted his legs up like he was standing on his head, and got the bottom of his pad on the puck. "He broke around our defense," Legace said. "He held it and held it on me as long as he could. I just stuck my feet up in the air and hoped for the best." Czerkawski has been robbed in similar fashion all season. "I'm in the highlight films every night," Czerkawski said, "but not as the winner." Red Wings forward Brendan Shanahan, who had two assists, said that kind of play fires up the bench. "What a save like that says is that he's not going to give up on the puck at all," Shanahan said. "It definitely gave us a boost, and seemed to deflate them a bit." Detroit took the lead in the third period on consecutive power-play goals, by Fedorov at 6:09 and Lidstrom at 8:19, both on point slap shots. Czerkawski tied it at 15:10 on a wrist shot past Legace. It was just his fourth goal of the season, and second in 15 games. Fedorov scored the game-winner 45 seconds later when he took Martin Lapointe's pass and beat Flaherty with a wrist shot. "Everything happened so quick," Fedorov said. "I was just trying to react. If I started thinking, I was in trouble." Czerkawski's euphoria didn't last long. "I felt a little bit better after I scored," Czerkawski said. "I felt great for about 40 seconds." New York hasn't felt well since beating Nashville on Nov. 7. Aside from one point in an overtime loss to the Rangers, the Islanders haven't been able to put points in the standings. "I think we've played some nice hockey in the last little while," coach Butch Goring said, "and we have nothing to show for it." Game notesThe last time the Islanders had a losing streak of at least eight games was a 10-game skid from Dec. 22 - Jan. 10 of the 1997-98 season. That streak cost coach Rick Bowness his job. ... Oleg Kvasha, who won the faceoff that led to Isbister's goal, picked up his first assist of the season, an oddity for a power-play forward. ... Fedorov has seven goals in his last three games, and has a current five-game point scoring streak (7-4-11). ... New York's power play is also in a slump. Scoreless in five chances against Detroit, the Islanders have just one goal in their last 46 chances. ... Flaherty played in his 100th NHL game. ... This is the only meeting between the teams this season. | ALSO SEE NHL Scoreboard Detroit Clubhouse NY Islanders Clubhouse RECAPS Atlanta 2 Washington 1
Detroit 4 AUDIO/VIDEO   Detroit shows its pass proficiency before Sergei Fedorov nets the goal.avi: 967 k RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1 | |||||