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HUSELIUS SCORES THREE IN VICTORY


Kristian Huselius of the New York Islanders celebrates with his
teammates after his third goal of the game.

UNIONDALE, NY - Kristian Huselius scored three times to lead the Islanders to a 5-2 thumping of the visiting Calgary Flames.

The Islanders got off to a quick start on Monday night with Kristian Huselius scoring twice in the first period, once at the 2:15 mark and again at 6:08 to jump out to a quick 2-0 lead over the Calgary Flames.

The game started off with some early 4 on 4 play after Jiri Hudler was the recipient of a Steven Reinprecht head-butt after Reinprecht felt Hudler's elbow warranted some retribution. The head-butt was the second time this season an Islander was the victim of WWE-like antics as Jordan Leopold was involved earlier on in the season in an incident with a Philadelphia Flyer.

Alyn McCauley would draw the Flames within one before the end of the first period slipping in his 6th of the season past Jocelyn Thibault.

The middle stanza saw two powerplays for the Islanders, including a double minor to Calgary defenceman Andreas Lilja, but despite pummelling rookie netminder Brent Krahn with 14 shots in the period, the game remained at a 2-1 score to start the third.

The Islanders would end up solving Krahn however in the third period, with Huselius (16), Roy (1), and Parrish (14) all finding the back of the Calgary net.

Huselius' goal in the third completed his hat-trick, while rookie forward Derek Roy got his 1st CPHL goal cleaning up on a rebound neatly left in the Calgary crease where he happened to be.

Mark Parrish continued his point streak scoring in the third, extending his streak now to 6 games with at least a point in each game. Parrish's 14th of the season also ushered the entrance of Miikka Kiprusoff whom the Flames had hoped would be able to have the night off.

Jocelyn Thibault faced only 22 shots on the night, surrending goals to Alyn McCauley in the first and Jarome Iginla in the third. Thibault has had a stunning month of November, going undefeated in 11 games, posting a remarkable 7-0-4 record in 11 starts, complimented by a sparkling 0.916 save percentage.

With the victory the Islanders are unbeaten in their last seven and sit in a tie with the Ottawa Senators for 5th spot in the Gretzky Conference with 36 points. The Islanders' next game is tomorrow evening where they find themselves in a key match-up against Shore Division rivals the New York Rangers.

Game Notes - Oleg Tverdovsky was crushed in the third period by Calgary Flames defenceman Adam Foote with a clean, open-ice hit... Tverdovsky left the game immediately and did not return... Initial word from team officials is a mild concussion which could keep the swift defenceman out for at least a few games... With his hat-trick, Kristian Huselius moved up to 2nd in the Islanders in goals behind only Chris Drury who leads with 17.