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Tuesday, Oct. 17 7:30pm ET
Selanne delivers game-winner | |||||
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BOX SCORE
UNIONDALE, N.Y. (AP) -- Special teams have been anything but for the New York Islanders this season. Already ranked last in the NHL in power plays, the Islanders allowed two power-play goals to the Anaheim Mighty Ducks. The second was Teemu Selanne's game-winner with 1.4 seconds left in the second period that gave the Mighty Ducks a 4-3 victory Tuesday night. "We lost an important battle tonight, and that was our special-teams battle," Islanders coach Butch Goring said. "We're struggling with no power-play goals, and our penalty killing was a problem for us tonight." The Islanders allowed just two goals in 20 power-play chances in its first three games, but the Mighty Ducks scored on its first man-advantage chance for a 1-0 lead just 2:04 into the game. Former Islander Marty McInnis fired a slap shot from the left side which hit off goalie John Vanbiesbrouck and went into the net. New York broke its shutout streak of 100:24 when Mark Parrish tied it at 14:02. He picked up a loose puck after two Anaheim players collided, moved in on goalie Guy Hebert, and wristed a shot high to the glove side. Oleg Kvasha put New York ahead at 16:14 when he tried a cross-crease pass. It banked off defenseman Niclas Havelid past Hebert. "We were finally getting some bounces tonight," Parrish said. Anaheim got even at 6:44 of the second period when Mike Leclerc worked a give-and-go with his linemate McInnis and beat Vanbiesbrouck with a short-side wrist shot over his glove. Patrick Traverse put the Mighty Ducks back on top at 11:05 after he followed up Leclerc's in-close shot and flipped the rebound under the crossbar. Parrish tied it again at 16:55 as the Islanders got another bounce to go their way. Roman Hamrlik's left point shot was stopped by defenseman Ruslan Salei while on his knees. The puck somehow squirted through his legs, and Parrish, standing behind him, sent a quick turnaround shot past Hebert. But on Anaheim's fifth and final power play, with Hamrlik in the penalty box, Selanne moved from his own end into the Islanders zone. He wound up with the puck in the left faceoff circle and fired a slap shot past Vanbiesbrouck to the short side as defenseman Kenny Jonsson got to Selanne too late. "I knew there wasn't much time left (in the period)," Selanne said. "That's why I wanted to shoot it." Jonsson felt he should have been more aggressive. "It was a great shot by Selanne," Jonsson said, "but I should have gone right at him." The Islanders took seven shots at Hebert in the final period, and even had a power play, but couldn't tie the game. "We played our best game of the season," Goring said. "I want to take only the positives out of this game, and the line of Kvasha, Parrish and (center Tim) Connolly played great. They were our best line." Selanne said the win was important because the Ducks were sagging. "Our team didn't have much energy," Selanne said. "But the good thing about tonight was that we didn't play that well and we still won." Game notesAfter selling out the home opener (16,297), the Islanders only drew 6,636 fans to Nassau Coliseum. ... Vanbiesbrouck has played every minute in goal this season for the Islanders. ... Anaheim is 2-0-1 in its last three visits to Long Island. The Islanders last home victory over the Mighty Ducks was a 4-3 victory on Feb. 4, 1997. ... Between periods, Jack, the chimp from the forthcoming hockey movie "MVP (Most Valuable Primate)", made an appearance on the ice, skating and shooting. | ALSO SEE NHL Scoreboard Anaheim Clubhouse NY Islanders Clubhouse RECAPS Ottawa 6 Philadelphia 1
Anaheim 4
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