[HelloHockeyFans]

VOKOUN DEBUTS WITH 30 SAVES IN VICTORY


Tomas Vokoun directs a shot to the corner in his debut as
an Islander on Tuesday night.

UNIONDALE, NY - Tomas Vokoun had a successful debut as an Islander stopping 30 shots en route to a 4-2 Islanders victory.

The crowd was buzzing as fans prepared for the Tuesday night tilt where three new Islanders made their debuts in front of a sold-out crowd at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum.

Paul Kariya, Fedor Tyutin, and Tomas Vokoun all suited up against the Bluejackets after being acquired on Sunday from the Nashville Predators in a deal which saw Sergei Gonchar, Kristian Huselius, and Jocelyn Thibault move to the Howe Conference.

After two periods the Islanders found themselves behind by a pair without an answer themselves as goals from Travis Green in the first and Tony Amonte in the second had the visitors in the lead.

Green's first of the season came at 13:10 of the opening period when an Andy Sutton shot from the point bounced off a couple of bodies in front of Vokoun before landing on Green's stick neatly who had Vokoun at his mercy who was already sliding in the other direction.

Tony Amonte would add to the Columbus lead in the second when he fired a one-timer past Vokoun at 2:28 on the powerplay with Olli Jokinen and Toni Lydman adding assists on the goal.

With the Jackets pressing in the second threatening to run away with the game Tomas Vokoun answered the call with several dazzling saves including a series of remarkable stops in the closing seconds of the second period off Olli Jokinen and Pascal Dupuis to preserve the two-goal deficit.

After firing only 11 shots in the first two periods combined, inspired by Vokoun's performance the Islanders rallied behind their new netminder in the third firing 12 shots in the final twenty minutes scoring four times.

Tony Voce opened the scoring in the third with his second goal of the season taking a Mark Parrish cross-ice feed and beating Kevin Weekes through the five-hole at 2:09.

Thirty seconds later with Andy Sutton off serving a boarding minor, Oleg Tverdovsky's point shot would find its way through a crowd into the net beating Kevin Weekes who had no chance on the goal.

After evening the score and with momentum on their side, the Islanders continued to press, peppering Weekes with shot after shot, but the Columbus goalie was equal to the task stopping most of the chances, some of which were of the high-quality variety.

The Islanders would eventually capitalize though when Tony Voce's pretty move in the neutral zone allowed him to walk in on a 2 on 1 with teammate Marcel Hossa who finished the play off firing a shot in the Columbus net beating Weekes over his right shoulder to put the Isles up by one.

Jordan Leopold added another at 19:38 of the third shoveling in a rebound past a sprawled Columbus netminder to seal the victory, completing the comeback.

The Islanders are idle tomorrow but will practice as they welcome two more new players to the fold on the Island. Both Marek Svatos and Danil Markov are expected to arrive tomorrow where they'll meet with the team and suit up for practice as the team prepares for the Dallas Stars who come knocking on Thursday.

Game Notes - Paul Kariya had an assist in his first game as an Islander seeing 20 minutes of ice time on the night... Fedor Tyutin saw 24 minutes on the ice and finished the night at -1... Tony Voce's two-point performance could not have come at a better time for the young forward who has been relegated to the pressbox for most of the season but drew back into the line-up due to Ruutu's ankle injury sustained Monday evening... How did the former Islanders do...?... Jocelyn Thibault, who has since moved on to the Colorado Avalanche, made 33 saves in his debut in a 3-1 victory over the Flyers... Kristian Huselius was held pointless in his debut as a Predator... Sergei Gonchar will make his debut tomorrow evening for the Florida Panthers.