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IslesInfo Comments: The Islanders won their second straight today against a New Jersey team that pretty much dressed most of their regulars. While the Isles also had most of their regulars in the lineup, they also inserted rookies Raffi Torres and Eric Godard, as well as Ray Schultz taking the place of Roman Hamrlik. For the Isles to beat the Devils soundly 5-2, and the way they did it has to be pretty impressive since many prediction makers are picking the Devils to finish ahead of the Isles in the Atlantic. The Devils at times tried to intimidate the Isles, particularly by crashing the net and the young Rick DiPietro who was making his first preseason start. But the Islanders did not take any of the Devils guff and handed out a few blows of their own en route to their win. Tough prospect Godard went at it twice with Devil veteran Turner Stevenson and won each battle dominantly. Adrian Aucoin led the Islanders on the score sheet with 2 goals in the game. The first opened the scoring and was the lone goal of the first period. Aucoin managed to float one by Martin Brodeur after Shawn Bates gave him a nifty drop pass. The entire play was set up by a Mark Parrish hit on Patrick Elias. Earlier in the period Schultz nailed Scott Gomez with his head down. DiPietro was nothing but fantastic in the first period. Could he finally be focused on what he has to do to make this team? He made beautiful saves, one on a two on one and later he was spectacular on a 5 on 3 powerplay advantage for the Devils.

- If there still is something the Islanders need to work on it's the penalty killing as they gave up two to Jamie Langenbrunner in the second period. Langenbrunner tied the game at 1-1 but the Islanders would go up 3-1 off goals by Alexei Yashin and Brad Isbister. Yashin put the Isles back up on a blast from another pass by Bates. At this point Corey Schwab had entered the net for New Jersey and Isbister gained the puck in the slot thanks to a pinch by defenseman Radek Martinek. Langenbrunner made it 3-2 going into the third period. In the third the Islanders played sound defensively and DiPietro played more outstanding in net. The score remained 3-2 as the Islanders showed they can keep a lead. With 3:57 seconds remaining in the game Aucoin scored his second thanks to a screen by Bates in front of Schwab. Claude Lapointe potted and empty netter with 9 seconds remaining to make it a 5-2 final. Both Aucoin and Isbister contributed 3 points to the game. Bates and Yashin notched two assists each. 

The other side: With a number of positives comes a few negatives. The positive is that Brad Isbister has scored in three straight games and seems poised to make good on breaking out this season. The not so good is that after opening up with a strong training camp, scrimmages and what not, Oleg Kvasha has been quiet as he tends to be so often. Also, Jason Wiemer was one of the top scorers in the scrimmages but both he and Kvasha have gone scoreless in the Isles first 3 preseason games. But we all know that in each case this is the preseason and not necessarily what will happen once the season gets underway.

Fight Card: Eric Godard got another chance to play with the big club after having a good training camp and scoring in some scrimmages as well as a game for Bridgeport. Today he went at it twice with Turner Stevenson, something Stevenson might want to think about before ever doing again. Stevenson did gets an early jump on Godard in fight #1 landing a few blows but Godard came back with a heavy right and staggered Stevenson before taking him down. In fight number two, Godard didn't waste time as he landed heavy shots and floored Stevenson. The Isles were getting the short end of the calls as Godard was assessed 5 minutes for fighting, 5 minutes for roughing and a game misconduct. 25 minutes total in the game.

DiPietro's Day?: Isn't it about time that DiPietro came out and had an impressive game? Could this performance have any bearing on whether he will make the team or head back to Bridgeport? Yes, we all know the contract situation. But thus far in preseason games, with each of DiPietro, Osgood and Snow playing one game a piece, DiPietro has allowed only 2 goals to Osgood's 3 and Snow's 4. Though remember that DiPietro did allow 5 goals Saturday to the Bruins rookies, but was taken off the hook by Bridgeport coach Steve Stirling as far as responsibility. You can't just look at goals allowed but performance as well and DiPietro put forward his best effort thus far in camp after early speculation and a week of suffering a slightly sprained knee.

Islanders Beat Devils in Front Of Raucous School Crowd

By IRA PODELL
.c The Associated Press 

UNIONDALE, N.Y. (Oct. 1) -- Alexei Yashin and Brad Isbister scored 28 seconds apart in the second period as the New York Islanders topped the New Jersey Devils 5-2 in a matinee exhibition Tuesday in front of thousands of vocal school children.

New York defenseman Adrian Aucoin scored twice, and Jamie Langenbrunner had two goals for the Devils.

The Islanders, playing at home for the first time since Game 6 of the opening round of last year's playoffs against Toronto, played host to their second annual "Cool School Field Trip'' in which all 16,234 tickets were handed out to Long Island children in grades 3-8.

Whether the kids were thrilled with the game, or just excited to be out of the classroom, they were enthusiastic throughout.

The cheers began with the pregame reading on the scoreboard of Dr. Suess' book 'Green Eggs and Ham' by Islanders players. Shortly after, all in attendance said the 'Pledge of Allegiance' in unison as it was led on ice by center Jason Blake.

"To have 16,000 young kids from Long Island here I think is great for them, because there's a lot going on around the game that is educational and fun,'' said NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, who was present. "It's also great for the franchise, because I hope all of these kids go home and tell their parents what a good time they had and that they want to come back.

"This is grass-roots marketing at its best.''

Less than two minutes into the first period, the crowd easily drowned out the music on the public-address system with chants of "Let's Go Islanders.'' And not a minute after that, the youngsters rose to their feet as New York's Eric Godard dropped his gloves with New Jersey's Turner Stevenson for the first of their two fights.

But it wasn't a lost school day, as during play stoppages various quizzes testing spelling of players' names, math, and geography with a hockey theme were held in the stands, with Islanders paraphernalia given out to reward correct answers.

The students also received a workbook that will be designed around the events of the day.

"This is a privilege for the franchise to do this for the youth of Long Island,'' Islanders general manager Mike Milbury said. "These types of programs are what the Islanders are all about.''

The Devils (3-2-2) were also the opponent last year when the Islanders held this event for the first time. The crowd that day was held down to 7,000 children because many schools decided to skip the game, held just 13 days after the Sept. 11 attacks.

Aucoin gave the Islanders (2-1) the lead at 12:22 of the first period.

Langenbrunner scored his first to tie it 1-1 at 4:07 of the second. But Yashin put the Islanders back on top at 13:11 against backup goalie Corey Schwab, and Isbister made it 3-1 at 13:39 with his third of the preseason.

Schwab replaced Martin Brodeur less than five minutes before Yashin's goal.

The Devils got within one on Langenbrunner's second of the game with 19 seconds left in the second, but Aucoin and Claude Lapointe put the game away with third-period goals.

New Jersey held a 41-25 shots advantage.

Lineups:

ISLANDERS
FORWARDS
(17) Shawn Bates-(79) Alexei Yashin-(37) Mark Parrish
(15) Brad Isbister-(38) Dave Scatchard-(12) Oleg Kvasha
(16) Raffi Torres-(28) Jason Wiemer-(45) Arron Asham
(55) Jason Blake-(13) Claude Lapointe-(49) Eric Godard

DEFENSE
(29) Kenny Jonsson-(3) Adrian Aucoin
(39) Ray Schultz-(24) Radek Martinek
(33) Eric Cairns-(2) Mattias Timander

GOALTENDERS
(1) Rick DiPietro
(35) Chris Osgood

DEVILS
FORWARDS
(26) Patrik Elias-(25) Joe Nieuwendyk-(15) Jamie Langenbrunner
(12) Jeff Friesen-(23) Scott Gomez-(14) Brian Gionta
(20) Jay Pandolfo-(8) Steve Guolla-(18) Sergei Brylin
(17) Christian Berglund-(22) Mike Danton-(24) Turner Stevenson

DEFENSE
(4) Scott Stevens-(28) Brian Rafalski
(3) Ken Daneyko-(10) Oleg Tverdovsky
(7) Andrei Zyuzin-(6) Tommy Albelin

GOALTENDERS
(30) Martin Brodeur
(35) Corey Schwab

 

FINAL	1	2	3	Total
New Jersey Devils	0	2	0	2
New York Islanders	1	2	2	5

 

Period Summary
Shots on Goal	1	2	3	Total
New Jersey Devils	16	13	12	41
New York Islanders	7	8	10	25
First Period
Scoring: 1, Ny Islanders, Adrian Aucoin 1 (Shawn Bates), 12:22. Penalties: T Stevenson, Njd (major fighting), 2:46; E Godard, Nyi (major fighting), 2:46; A Zyuzin, Njd (hooking), 6:26; D Scatchard, Nyi (interference), 7:32; B Isbister, Nyi (holding), 16:24; A Asham, Nyi (cross checking), 17:14.
Second Period
Scoring: 2, New Jersey, Jamie Langenbrunner 1 (power play) (Scott Stevens, Patrik Elias), 4:07. 3, Ny Islanders, Alexei Yashin 1 (Shawn Bates, Adrian Aucoin), 13:11. 4, Ny Islanders, Brad Isbister 3 (Radek Martinek), 13:39. 5, New Jersey, Jamie Langenbrunner 2 (power play) (Tommy Albelin, Andrei Zyuzin), 19:41. Penalties: J Wiemer, Nyi (holding), 2:54; J Wiemer, Nyi (goalie interference), 7:27; B Gionta, Njd (goalie interference), 9:03; B Isbister, Nyi (interference), 9:35; E Godard, Nyi (fighting, roughing major, game misconduct), 12:21; M Danton, Njd (goalie interference), 12:21; T Stevenson, Njd (major fighting), 12:21; J Nieuwendyk, Njd (goalie interference), 12:45; A Zyuzin, Njd (tripping), 14:05; J Blake, Nyi (tripping), 18:27; M Danton, Njd (roughing misconduct), 20:00; A Asham, Nyi (cross checking), 20:00.
Third Period
Scoring: 6, Ny Islanders, Adrian Aucoin 2 (power play) (Mattias Timander, Alexei Yashin), 16:03. 7, Ny Islanders, Claude Lapointe 1 (empty net) (Brad Isbister, Eric Cairns), 19:51. Penalties: R Schultz, Nyi (roughing), 4:37; J Friesen, Njd (roughing), 6:45; K Daneyko, Njd (high sticking), 12:11; R Schultz, Nyi (high sticking), 14:19; K Daneyko, Njd (high sticking), 14:19; S Stevens, Njd (interference), 15:31.

Power-play Conversions: New Jersey - 2 of 8, Ny Islanders - 1 of 7.
Goalies : New Jersey, Martin Brodeur (9 shots, 8 saves). Ny Islanders, Rick DiPietro (41 shots, 39 saves; record: 1-0-0).
A: 0.
Referees: Dean Warren, Don Van Massenhoven.
Linesmen: Jean Morin, Lyle Seitz.

IslesInfo Pregame Preview

11am start, Tuesday: The Islanders are taking on the New Jersey Devils today in their first preseason game at the Nassau Coliseum. The early start is due to an Isles promotion where school kids will be able to attend the game as a learning experience.

Oct 1: It will be interesting to see if any of the rookies that were assigned to play in the Bridgeport game against the Boston Bruins rookies Saturday will get into this game against New Jersey. Trent Hunter, Raffi Torres, Juraj Kolnik, Mattias Weinhandl, Tomi Pettinen, Eric Godard and Rick DiPietro rejoined the Islanders' training camp on Sunday. Center Justin Mapletoft is making a bid to make the team and has drawn praise from coach Laviolette, as has Czech Martin Chabada.

Today's Lineup: Eric Godard, after playing a great game for the "B" squad against the Bruins rookies Saturday, gained a second look by the Islanders today. He will play fourth line right wing with Jason Blake and Claude Lapointe. Raffi Torres has also earned himself a second look after playing well over the weekend with Bridgeport, including a hat trick on Friday night. Defenseman Ray Schultz, slated to be the 7th d-man this season, will play in place of Roman Hamrlik today who gets the day off. Rick DiPietro gets the start in goal, his first appearance for the Isles in the preseason.

Waiver Draft: NHL GM's are required to submit their protected and unprotected list this afternoon in preparation for Friday's Waiver Draft. As you may remember the Islanders made a big splash in last years waiver draft when the Detroit Red Wings basically handed Chris Osgood over to them. Don't count on anything of that magnitude happening this time around. The Islanders are slated to select, if they should decide to make a selection, 22nd overall in the second round of the draft. The first round is made up of the 14 teams that missed the playoffs last year. The second round starts over, this time including every team in the league.

Lets Go Isles!