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Thursday, Mar. 16 7:30pm ET
Untested rookie too good for Atlanta | |||||
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BOX SCORE
ATLANTA (AP) -- New York Islanders goalie Stephen Valiquette stood tall in his first NHL start Thursday night. Valiquette, the tallest goalie to appear in an NHL game at 6-foot-5, made 37 saves as New York beat the Atlanta Thrashers. Despite his size, the 22-year-old who was recalled from Lowell of the AHL on Feb. 29 was still a bit nervous about making his first NHL start. "I'm such a big fan of the NHL," said Valiquette, who stopped four of five shots in his NHL debut on March 9 at Phoenix. "I think because I'm such a big fan, it made it a lot more difficult for me to play. But I was able to get over that." Brad Isbister, Olli Jokinen, Josh Green and Tim Connolly had goals for the Islanders, who improved to 14-7-6 when scoring first. "It wasn't an easy game for him," Islanders coach Butch Goring said of Valiquette. "He really had to work hard and certainly earned his win." Yannick Trembley and Mike Stapleton scored for Atlanta, which lost its 10th straight. Atlanta dropped to 1-24-2 since beating Philadelphia 1-0 on Jan. 14. The Thrashers, whose 34 points are worst in the NHL, broke an 0-for-28 power-play streak, but failed to convert on four other chances. The Islanders, whose 51 points rank third-worst in the league, avenged two home losses to Atlanta earlier this season. "If we were overconfident coming in here, we've got problems," Isbister said. "They beat us twice, so we wanted to come in here and get some points from them." Isbister put New York up 1-0 at 7:30 of the first by scoring his 18th goal from eight feet out from the right side of the crease. He missed a penalty shot a few minutes later, as Thrashers goalie Damian Rhodes stopped his shot. Rhodes, who caused the penalty shot by throwing his stick at the puck, stopped 23 of 27 shots, and fell to 3-10-2. "My worst nightmare was against New Jersey the other night," Rhodes said in referring to the six goals he allowed in a 9-0 loss Friday night. "This was a little bit better." Jokinen put New York up 2-0 with a wraparound shot 15:15 into the first following a nice give-and-go with Dave Scatchard. Green made it 3-0 by stealing the puck against the right boards from Stapleton 7:41 into the second. Green's 12th goal, from the left side of the right circle, sailed under Rhodes' glove side. Connolly took advantage of a loose puck that bounced off Tremblay's leg to give New York a 4-0 lead 4:30 later. Connolly easily wristed a shot under Rhodes' left leg for his 12th goal. Tremblay broke Atlanta's scoreless power-play streak by scoring his eighth goal from the top of the left side of the slot. Stapleton's power-play goal made it 4-2 with 9:20 remaining. He knocked in his 10th goal on a rebound that followed Ray Ferraro's slap shot from the top of the slot. | ALSO SEE NHL Scoreboard NY Islanders Clubhouse Atlanta Clubhouse RECAPS NY Islanders 4 Atlanta 2
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