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UNIONDALE, N.Y. (AP) – Radek Dvorak's performance brought hats
raining down to the home ice of the New York Rangers' biggest
rival.
Dvorak scored a career-high four goals as the Rangers swept a
home-and-home series with the New York Islanders with a 6-4 victory
Thursday night.
The Rangers hadn't won back-to-back games in over a month, but
they followed up Wednesday's 6-4 victory over the Islanders with
another.
"It's nice, it's a good feeling," Dvorak said. "It was nice
to see all those hats."
Linemates Mark Messier and Manny Malhotra each assisted twice as
the Rangers won the five-game season series from the Islanders.
The Rangers took advantage of a pair of Islanders penalties
called 15 and 26 seconds into the opening period.
Petr Nedved gave the Rangers a 1-0 lead by converting on the
5-on-3 advantage at 1:53.
"We got off on a bad foot with those early penalties,"
Islanders forward Dave Scatchard said. "We couldn't get any
momentum after that."
The Islanders' only real break came later in the period when
they were given a two-man advantage. Kenny Jonsson tied it with a
clean wrist shot from the right circle that beat goalie Guy Hebert.
The Rangers took charge in the second period, scoring four times
for a 5-2 lead.
Dvorak scored his first goal of the night to put the Rangers
ahead for good at 9:36. The goal came on a shorthanded breakaway
as he beat goalie Rick DiPietro with a backhander.
Jan Hlavac made it 3-1 at 15:11
Dvorak struck again at 18:05 when he was left alone in front of
DiPietro. He took Malhotra's pass and stuffed it home.
Scatchard stopped the onslaught, if only briefly, when he
backhanded a shot past Hebert 36 seconds later.
But Dvorak completed his second career hat trick with 15.1
seconds left in the period on another breakaway off a bad line
change by the Islanders.
"He's been playing excellent hockey for us all year," Messier
said of his linemate. "He's had lots of chances, and he's
finishing them."
The Islanders didn't give up in the final period, as Chris
Terreri replaced DiPietro for the final period. Mark Parrish scored
an unassisted goal at 11:49, and Mariusz Czerkawski made it 5-4
with a shorthanded goal at 13:42.
"Maybe we played a little relaxed in the last period," Dvorak
said. "We never quit and got the win."
Dvorak made sure of that by scoring an empty-net goal with 90
seconds left.
"He used his speed and got behind our defense," Islanders
coach Lorne Henning said. "Dvorak had a big night, for sure."
Scatchard said the Islanders had their chances, but made too
many mistakes.
"We just had probably two or three major breakdowns, and that's
what cost us the game," Scatchard said. "At least we battled hard
to get back into the game."
Game notes
The Rangers won the first Pat LaFontaine Trophy, awarded to
the winner of the season series. The Rangers won three of the five
games this season. The losing ownership donates $100,000 to three
charities of the winner's choice. Islanders owner Charles Wang will
donate to Madison Square Garden Cheering for Children, the
Lustgarten Foundation for Pancreatic Cancer and NYR SKATE. ...
Rangers rookie defenseman Tomas Kloucek missed the game because of a
bruised heel. ... Islanders forwards Dave Scatchard and Mariusz
Czerkawski will reach 300 and 500 NHL games played, respectively,
in their next games. ... Scatchard was voted by the Long Island
media as the Islanders "Good Guy" of the season.
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ALSO SEE
NHL Scoreboard
NY Rangers Clubhouse
NY Islanders Clubhouse
RECAPS
NY Rangers 6
NY Islanders 4
Toronto 2
Philadelphia 1
Pittsburgh 5
Chicago 2
Montreal 6
Tampa Bay 2
Nashville 4
Phoenix 3
Colorado 1
Calgary 0
Los Angeles 3
Columbus 0
San Jose 7
Anaheim 4
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Radek Dvorak skates off the bench to score the third of his four goals.
avi: 742 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
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