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Islanders Hold Off Slumping Penguins 4-3

.c The Associated Press 

UNIONDALE, N.Y. (AP) - Mariusz Czerkawski scored a pair of power-play goals, and Garth Snow stopped 18 shots as the New York Islanders held on for a 4-3 victory over Pittsburgh on Wednesday night that sent the Penguins to their 16th straight loss.

Since the Penguins lost in overtime on Saturday to St. Louis, their official losing streak ended at 13 games. The NHL record of 17 consecutive losses held by the 1974-75 Capitals and the 1992-1993 Sharks isn't in danger.

Roman Hamrlik and Kenny Jonsson also scored for the Islanders, 20-8-2 at home. The Islanders moved into sole possession of seventh place in the Eastern Conference, two points ahead of Montreal.

Tomas Surovy, Ric Jackman and Milan Kraft scored for the Penguins, who haven't won since beating Philadelphia on Jan. 12. Since then, Pittsburgh is 0-15-0-1.

Andy Chiodo made his first NHL start in goal for the Penguins and stopped 30 shots.

The Islanders scored the only goal of the opening period while on a power play at 14:57, as Czerkawski's sharp angle shot from the right circle hit the left post, bounced off Chiodo's backside, and dropped in.

The Penguins only recorded four shots on Snow, one in the last 13 minutes of the period.

Surovy tied it at 6:54 of the second period as his slap shot from the upper right circle beat Snow just under the crossbar.

Pittsburgh grabbed the lead at 14:48 when Jackman's low left point slap shot beat Snow to the short side.

Czerkawski got the Islanders even at 2 with his second power-play goal of the game. He deflected Kenny Jonsson's point shot, which just tucked inside the right corner with just 12.3 seconds left in the period.

Czerkawski, with 21 goals, is second on the Islanders to rookie Trent Hunter's 22.

The Islanders took the lead for good on their only even-strength goal, as Hamrlik sneaked in from the point to one-time Michael Peca's pass past Chiodo at 2:53 of the third. Jonsson made it 4-2 at 6:29 with another power-play goal.

Kraft wristed a loose puck that popped out of a goal-mouth scramble past Snow to make it 4-3 at 11:25.

Notes:@ Islanders D Radek Martinek injured his ankle when he blocked a shot on his first shift of the second period, and didn't return. ... The Penguins only have two wins in 2004, divisional wins at New Jersey and Philadelphia. ... Pittsburgh has allowed 13 power-play goals in 29 short-handed situations over five games, and seven in 13 chances.

More Notes

• Islanders D Radek Martinek injured his ankle when he blocked a shot on his first shift of the second period, and didn't return.
• The Penguins only have two wins in 2004, divisional wins at New Jersey and Philadelphia.
• Pittsburgh has allowed 13 power-play goals in 29 short-handed situations over five games, and seven in 13 chances.
• Long Island native Robert Scuderi made his Nassau Coliseum debut as a pro. Scuderi, recalled by the Penguins last week from Wilkes-Barre of the AHL, grew up as an Islanders fan. He left nearly 50 tickets for family and friends and was named the game's third star despite no points and no shots on goal. "I think it was a Long Island bias," Scuderi said, "but it was a nice and classy gesture by the Islanders."
• Andy Chiodo made his NHL debut against the Islanders, the team that originally drafted him in the 6th round of the 2001 draft. The Islanders did not sign him last summer when Chiodo reportedly asked for first round salary. Instead the Islanders went with University of Denver grad Wade Dubielewicz who is now starring for the Bridgeport Sound Tigers. Chiodo re-entered the 2003 draft and was taken in the seventh round by the Penguins. He's spent the season up till now with the Penguin's AHL affifliate in Wilkes-Bar. Chiodo was beaten badly on the Islanders first goal on the power play by Czerkawski.

Fights: Arron Asham vs. Tom Kostopoulos. The fight was pretty even with Asham getting the slight edge. Less than a minute after this fight in what was a pretty chippy first period, the Islanders took a 1-0 lead on Mariusz Czerkawski's 20th, a power play goal.

islesinfo comment: It's always a weird feeling when you know you're not playing well yet you are still winning the game. The Islanders got a huge goal though late in the second period on another power play goal by Czerkawski which was a catalyst to winning the game in the third. The goal was probably highsticked out of the air by Chow but because the puck dropped down off Chiodo and then was redirected into the net by a Penguin defenseman's foot the goal was allowed to stand. Roman Hamrlik stepped up into the slot to make it 3-2 Islanders early in the third and Kenny Jonsson scored what would later be the game winner. The defense had a good offensive day with Hamrlik and Jonsson both notching a goal and an assist. Adrian Aucoin also had an assist in the third. The Islanders now will go into MSG tomorrow night to face the Rangers, who had the night off. The Islanders go into the game 13 points ahead of the Rangers for the 7th playoff spot in which the Islanders are tied with Montreal for. This loss for Pittsburgh puts them 0-16-0-1 in their last 17 games. The Islanders improved to 20-8-2 at home and undefeated in 6 at the Coliseum at 5-0-1. Overall the Islanders are on a 5 game unbeaten streak at 2-0-3.

Isles Scratches: D Sven Butenschon
Injuries: RW Mark Parrish, C Alexei Yashin

Lineups:

ISLANDERS
FORWARDS
(21) Mariusz Czerkawski-(12) Oleg Kvasha-(7) Trent Hunter
(17) Shawn Bates-(27) Michael Peca-(77) Cliff Ronning
(55) Jason Blake-(38) Dave Scatchard-(11) Mattias Weinhandl
(26) Justin Papineau-(20) Eric Manlow-(45) Arron Asham

DEFENSEMEN
(33) Eric Cairns-(3) Adrian Aucoin
(4) Roman Hamrlik-(24) Radek Martinek
(29) Kenny Jonsson-(44) Janne Niinimaa

GOALTENDERS
(30) Garth Snow
(39) Rick DiPietro

PITTSBURGH PENGUINS
FORWARDS
(12) Ryan Malone-(9) Rico Fata-(95) Alexey Morozov
(71) Konstantin Koltsov-(14) Milan Kraft-(8) Matt Bradley
(43) Tomas Surovy-(15) Brian Holzinger-(36) Tom Kostopoulos
(7) Kelly Buchberger-(20) Mike Eastwood-(72) Eric Meloche

DEFENSEMEN
(32) Dick Tarnstrom-(55) Ric Jackman
(2) Josef Melichar-(45) Rob Scuderi
(44) Brooks Orpik-(25) Marc Bergevin

GOALTENDERS
(40) Andy Chiodo
(30) Jean-Sebastien Aubin

 

GAME SUMMARY

1st Period Scoring

NYI:(PP) Mariusz Czerkawski 20 (Roman Hamrlik, Cliff Ronning) 14:57 1st Period Penalties NYI: Adrian Aucoin (Obstruction-hooking, 2:00) 1:51 PIT: Dick Tarnstrom (Holding, 2:00) 3:23 NYI: Radek Martinek (Obstruction-interference, 2:00) 6:51 PIT: Aleksey Morozov (Obstruction-hooking, 2:00) 8:55 NYI: Roman Hamrlik (High-sticking, 2:00) 11:29 PIT: Tom Kostopoulos (Fighting, 5:00) 14:01 PIT: Josef Melichar (Boarding, 2:00) 14:01 NYI: Arron Asham (Fighting, 5:00) 14:01 NYI: Arron Asham (Roughing, 2:00) 14:01 PIT: Tomas Surovy (Hooking, 2:00) 14:32 NYI: Jason Blake (Slashing, 2:00) 16:35

2nd Period Scoring

PIT:Tomas Surovy 10 6:54 PIT:(PP) Ric Jackman 4 (Dick Tarnstrom, Milan Kraft) 14:48 NYI:(PP) Mariusz Czerkawski 21 (Kenny Jonsson, Oleg Kvasha) 19:47 2nd Period Penalties PIT: Eric Meloche (Goaltender Interference, 2:00) 4:02 NYI: Cliff Ronning (Tripping, 2:00) 14:44 PIT: Eric Meloche (Interference, 2:00) 16:25 NYI: Mattias Weinhandl (Goaltender Interference, 2:00) 17:25 PIT: Eric Meloche (Interference, 2:00) 18:30

3rd Period Scoring

NYI:Roman Hamrlik 2 (Michael Peca, Shawn Bates) 2:53 NYI:(PP) Kenny Jonsson 5 (Adrian Aucoin, Jason Blake) 6:29 PIT:Milan Kraft 11 (Tom Kostopoulos, Tomas Surovy) 11:25 3rd Period Penalties PIT: Ric Jackman (Holding, 2:00) 4:54 PIT: Dick Tarnstrom (Hooking, 2:00) 19:35

Shots	1st	2nd	3rd	Total
Pittsburgh Penguins	4	8	9	21
New York Islanders	8	14	12	34

Power-Play Conversions: NYI: 3 of 8, PIT: 1 of 6

Goalies:
Ny Islanders: Garth Snow (21 shots, 18 saves; record: 14-13-4). 
Pittsburgh: Andy Chiodo (34 shots, 30 saves; record: 0-1-0).

 

LOS ANGELES Player G A +/- Shots TOI Milan Kraft 1 1 +2 3 15:01 Tomas Surovy 1 1 +2 2 13:59 Ric Jackman 1 0 0 2 22:33 Rico Fata 0 0 0 3 20:27 Dick Tarnstrom 0 1 0 2 24:10 Marc Bergevin 0 1 +1 2 17:10 Ryan Malone 0 0 0 1 20:11 Brooks Orpik 0 0 +1 1 18:39 Matt Bradley 0 0 0 1 13:56 Josef Melichar 0 0 0 1 17:38 Tom Kostopoulos 0 1 +2 1 13:41 Aleksey Morozov 0 0 0 1 16:55 Kelly Buchberger 0 0 -1 1 04:46 Andy Chiodo 0 0 0 0 59:29 Robert Scuderi 0 0 0 0 19:40 Eric Meloche 0 0 -1 0 07:32 Konstantin Koltsov 0 0 0 0 13:18 Brian Holzinger 0 0 0 0 18:49 Mike Eastwood 0 0 -1 0 10:36

ISLANDERS Player G A +/- Shots TOI Mariusz Czerkawski 2 0 0 3 14:04 Kenny Jonsson 1 1 0 4 23:51 Roman Hamrlik 1 1 +1 3 25:37 Jason Blake 0 1 0 5 22:49 Adrian Aucoin 0 1 0 4 29:27 Cliff Ronning 0 1 0 4 12:24 Dave Scatchard 0 0 -1 3 16:52 Shawn Bates 0 1 0 2 19:06 Janne Niinimaa 0 0 -2 2 25:47 Radek Martinek 0 0 0 1 05:43 Eric Manlow 0 0 -1 1 08:22 Trent Hunter 0 0 0 1 14:00 Mattias Weinhandl 0 0 0 1 07:27 Justin Papineau 0 0 0 0 03:48 Arron Asham 0 0 -1 0 11:06 Oleg Kvasha 0 1 0 0 19:32 Eric Cairns 0 0 -1 0 09:51 Michael Peca 0 1 0 0 19:59 Garth Snow 0 0 0 0 60:00

Stars: Mariusz Czerkawski(NYI), Roman Hamrlik(NYI), Robert Scuderi(PIT)
Referees: Tim Peel, Craig Spada
Linesmen: Jean Morin, Dan Schachte
Attendance:13,570

Penguins-Islanders Preview

.c The Associated Press 

GAME: Pittsburgh Penguins (11-39-5-4) at New York Islanders (27-21-8-2).

TIME: Wednesday, 7 p.m. EST.

It's not hard to see why the Pittsburgh Penguins have lost 15 straight and are the NHL's worst team.

Fixing what is wrong won't be so easy.

Pittsburgh will try to record its first win in more than a month when it faces the New York Islanders for the third time this season.

Another poor performance from the Penguins' goaltenders and penalty killers led to their NHL-record 12th straight home loss Monday, 8-4 to Toronto on Monday.

Sebastien Caron and Jean-Sebastien Aubin combined to allow eight goals on 37 shots while Pittsburgh's penalty killers surrendered four goals in five short-handed situations.

The loss was the Penguins' 15th straight, but because one of those losses came in overtime, the NHL record of 17 consecutive losses held by the 1974-75 Capitals and the 1992-1993 Sharks aren't in danger.

Pittsburgh, 0-14-0-1 since a 2-1 victory at Philadelphia on Jan. 12, has been outscored 71-34 during the 15-game skid.

``You definitely never think this is going to happen,'' rookie forward Ryan Malone said. ``The refs must not like us too much because it would be nice to get a break here or there.''

Pittsburgh's penalty killing is the NHL's worst, allowing 12 power-play goals in the past five games.

``Our penalty-killing's been like this all season, except for a six-week stretch,'' Penguins coach Eddie Olczyk said. ``We've tried every possible system, video, we've tried everything. Obviously, the guys who are killing penalties aren't getting the job done.''

While the Penguins are desperate for a win, the Islanders need the points to tighten their grip on a playoff spot. New York is battling Montreal and Buffalo for the two final postseason berths in the Eastern Conference.

Arron Asham scored early in the third period and Rick DiPietro had another strong game with 29 saves Monday as the Islanders skated to a 1-1 tie against Los Angeles.

``As long as we keep working hard and keep playing the way we are, we'll do well,'' New York's Kenny Jonsson said.

The Islanders are unbeaten in four (1-0-3) while earning at least a point in 13 of the past 15 games (7-2-5-1).

DiPietro is 6-1-3 in his last 10 starts with the one loss coming in overtime at Boston on Jan. 29. He has allowed more than two goals just once during that span.

New York is 6-0-0-1 in its last seven meetings with Pittsburgh.

STANDINGS (through Feb. 16): Penguins - 31 points, 5th place, 47 PB, Atlantic Division. Islanders - 64 points, 3rd place, 14 PB, Atlantic Division.

TEAM LEADERS: Penguins - Malone, 17 goals; Dick Tarnstrom, 22 assists and 33 points; Kelly Buchberger, 109 PIM. Islanders - Trent Hunter, 22 goals and 42 points; Adrian Aucoin, 26 assists; Eric Cairns, 130 PIM.

SPECIAL TEAMS (through Feb. 16): Penguins - Power play: 14.9 percent (41 for 275), 22nd in NHL. Penalty killing: 75.7 percent (199 for 263), 30th. Islanders - Power play: 16.7 percent (38 for 227), 10th. Penalty killing: 85.3 percent (221 for 259), 7th.

GOALTENDERS: Penguins - Aubin (2-7-0, 0 SO, 3.07 GAA); Andy Chiodo (no appearances). Islanders - DiPietro (14-10-4, 2, 2.18); Garth Snow (13-13-4, 1, 2.72).

SEASON SERIES: Islanders, 2-0.

LAST MEETING: Dec. 31; Islanders, 6-1. At Pittsburgh, Jason Blake had two goals and two assists and Hunter scored twice, leading New York to its sixth straight win.

ROAD/HOME RECORDS: Penguins - 4-20-2-4 on the road; Islanders - 19-8-2-0 at home.

Lets Go Isles!