Brodeur's bid for 30 wins denied by Isles in shootout
ByIRAPODELL
The Associated Press
UNIONDALE, N.Y.— Trent Hunter smacked a shot between Martin Brodeur's pads in a shootout, denying the Canadian Olympian his 30th victory and lifting the New York Islanders to a 3-2 victory over the New Jersey Devils on Thursday night.
Brodeur, who beat Philadelphia in a shootout Wednesday night in the Devil's first game after the Olympic break, is trying to become the first player to have 30 wins in 10 straight seasons. He's the only goalie with more than eight in a row.
Miroslav Satan, who was with his wife in Buffalo earlier in the day when she gave birth to a boy, also scored against Brodeur in the shootout. Viktor Kozlov and John Madden were stopped by U.S. Olympic goalie Rick DiPietro, who made 26 regular saves.
New York's Alexei Zhitnik assisted on power-play goals in the second period by Brent Sopel and Jason Blake. Scott Gomez and Jay Pandolfo scored for New Jersey, which lost to New York for the second time in three games.
Pandolfo, one of 11 U.S. players in the Devils' lineup, took a pass at the edge of the left circle from fellow American Brian Rafalski and ripped a shot past Rick DiPietro 8:45 into the third period to tie it.
Brodeur did the rest for the Devils in the third, stacking his pads to turn aside Mike York when New Jersey trailed 2-1 and then made a brilliant stop on a chance in front with just 1:05 remaining in regulation.
Brodeur then blocked Satan's point-blank shot in the final minute of overtime, finishing with 38 saves before the shootout.
New York is trying to make a statement in the week before the trading deadline that it is still in the running for its third straight playoff appearance. The Islanders began the night in 12th place in the Eastern Conference, eight points out of the final spot.
Zhitnik earned an assist on defense partner Sopel's first goal in 36 games at 8:35 of the middle frame and then picked up another when Blake snapped a 1-1 tie at 12:20.
DiPietro was sharp in his first start after playing four of the United States' six games in the Olympics. He played the third period of New York's 5-3 loss to Montreal on Tuesday night.
Sopel got the Islanders going with just his second goal of the season. He already was enjoying a good night as he was chosen as New York's player of the month in February.
The Devils, who only had six shots in the second period, got even 1:18 later. Brian Gionta, another Devils American, got his stick on a rebound of Sean Brown's shot and steered it over to Gomez for the U.S. Olympian's 21st goal of the season.
Zhitnikshowed again that he has recovered from the ankle injury that forced him to miss the Olympics and New York's five games before the break.
Blake won a faceoff back to Zhitnik at the left point for a shot that kicked off MarkParrish and back over to Blake— another U.S. Olympian — who popped in the rebound for his 22nd goal.
Islanders and Devils jerseys dotted the crowd that was sparse, largely because of snowy weather throughout the day in the metropolitan area. Several sections had just a handful of patrons, though the paid attendance was announced as 11,669.