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BOX SCORE
MONTREAL (AP) -- It was a bad night all round for the Montreal
Canadiens: they lost the game and their goaltender.
|  | | Islanders defenseman Jamie Rivers, right, upends Montreal's Martin Rucinsky. |
To make matters worse, the winning goal for the New York
Islanders came from Gino Odjick, who is not known for his scoring
prowess.
It all added up to a dispiriting 4-2 loss to the Islanders on
Monday night.
It was Odjick who broke a 2-2 tie -- with his first goal in
nearly a year -- with less than five minutes left in the third
period.
He tipped Kenny Jonsson's slap shot from the left point past
goalie Jose Theodore, who came into the game in the second period
after starter Jeff Hackett was hurt in a collision at the side
boards.
"Any time I'm on the ice, I go to the net and I just close my
eyes," said Odjick, who hadn't scored since last Nov. 21 at
Nashville.
"I'm getting a lot of chances to play this year because I'm
playing with discipline."
Mariusz Czerkawski had a goal and two assists to lead the
Islanders. Brad Isbister and Mats Lindgren also scored for New
York.
Brian Savage scored his eighth goal of the season to tie San
Jose's Owen Nolan for the league lead, and Saku Koivu also scored
for Montreal.
The Canadiens lost Hackett 7:31 into the second period when he
skated to the boards to chase a loose puck. Hackett, who had
stopped all eight shots he had faced to that point, was sent flying
backward to the ice after colliding with New York forward Steve
Webb.
Hackett is listed as day-to-day.
"He's a very aggressive goaltender," Savage said. "You see it
when he tries to move the puck up to the forwards after he makes a
save.
"I don't know what he was doing in this situation but I suspect
he thought there was an opening there."
Hackett lay on the ice for several minutes and had to be
assisted off. He suffered a bruised left shoulder and back spasms.
Canadiens coach Alain Vigneault was satisfied Webb wasn't
deliberately targeting his star goalie.
"It wasn't a cheap hit," Vigneault said. "It was simply two
guys going for the puck."
But the loss of Hackett did seem to affect the Canadiens, who
were leading 1-0 at the time.
"It took Montreal out of the game," said Islanders coach Butch Goring.
The Islanders, who didn't get their first shot until nearly 15
minutes into the opening period, scored twice on the first four
shots taken at Theodore in the second.
Czerkawski took a pass from Isbister at the side of the
Canadiens net for a power-play goal at 8:42. Isbister then gave the
Islanders a 2-1 lead when he beat Theodore on a breakaway at 15:08.
Montreal did battle back.
Koivu scored his first of the season to tie the game 2-2 on a
slap shot from the slot at 7:29 of the third.
But Odjick helped give the Islanders just their second win of
the season.
"We have to find a way to hold on to games like that," said
Canadiens defenseman Eric Weinrich. "We were in a similar
situation like that last week in Philly when it was 4-4 and we won
the game in overtime. Today, when it was tied 2-2, we played an
entirely different style."
Montreal was denied a 2-0 lead 12:44 into the first period when
referee Brian Murphy went to a video replay to determine that Dainius Zubrus had kicked the puck into the Islanders' net.
"In the first 15 minutes, we weren't in the game," Goring said. "We got our momentum going later.
"Our team found that the Canadiens came out with a lot of confidence. They got us back on our heels."
Islanders defenseman Rich Pilon left the game early in the
second with a sprained left knee after he was hip-checked into the boards in front of the Canadiens' bench by Zubrus.
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ALSO SEE
NHL Scoreboard
NY Islanders Clubhouse
Montreal Clubhouse
RECAPS
NY Islanders 4
Montreal 2
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Gino Odjick launches the puck into the open net.
avi: 887 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
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