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BOX SCORE
BOSTON (AP) -- Judging by his NHL debut, the New York Islanders
made the right move in making Roberto Luongo the highest drafted
goalie in NHL history.
|  | | Welcome to the NHL: Islanders goalie Roberto Luongo made 43 saves in his NHL debut. |
Luongo, the Islanders' first pick and fourth overall in 1997, stopped 43 shots to lead the Islanders past the red-hot Boston Bruins 2-1 on Sunday night.
"This is hopefully a huge step for me," said Luongo. "I've waited my whole life for this."
Luongo, 20, made 31 saves in the first two periods, allowing
only Anson Carter's goal 6:02 into the second.
"I was a little nervous before the game," said Luongo. "The first couple of shots I was getting better and better. After the first five or six shots, I was getting into a groove."
He was barely tested in the final period, but survived a
scramble in front when he was sprawled on his back without his
stick in the closing seconds.
"I totally lost control of the puck," he said. "I was doing a
Dominic Hasek impersonation out there. I was a little lucky it hit
me in the shoulder."
Jorgen Jonsson and Zdeno Chara scored for New York, which
entered the game with the league's third-worst record. It was just
Boston's third loss in its last 17 games (11-3-3).
"I think it gives everybody a whole lot of confidence in the
goaltender," Islanders coach Butch Goring said. "He believes in
his heart that he can play, but until you go out there and show you
can do it."
Boston pulled goalie Byron Dafoe with 61 seconds left and had
Luongo down, but failed to get control of the puck.
"We had a lot of chances, but we just didn't get any golden
opportunities," Bruins coach Pat Burns said.
Dafoe felt his teammates didn't get enough rebounds against the rookie netminder.
"They did a good job in front of their net," Dafoe said. "We
didn't have many second chances."
Chara, a 6-foot-9 defenseman, made a strong individual play to
give the Islanders a 2-1 lead with 55 seconds left in the second
period. He circled Boston's net in one direction before turning
around, coming back the other way and slipping a backhander between
Dafoe's pads.
The Islanders took a 1-0 lead when Jonsson redirected Jamie
Heward's pass by Dafoe from the top of the crease.
Boston, which outshot New York 17-6 in the second period, tied
the game at 1 when Carter slipped a short wrist shot inside the far
post by Luongo after taking a feed from Jason Allison.
Luongo's best stop of the opening two periods came when he
dropped to make a pad save of Carter at the end of a 2-on-1 break
midway into the opening period.
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ALSO SEE
NHL Scoreboard
NY Islanders Clubhouse
Boston Clubhouse
RECAPS
Philadelphia 3
Ottawa 3
Phoenix 4
Detroit 3
Buffalo 3
Tampa Bay 2
Dallas 4
Atlanta 2
NY Islanders 2
Boston 1
San Jose 4
New Jersey 3
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Zdeno Chara goes behind the net and beats Byron Dafoe.
avi: 1023 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
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