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HURRICANES WIN, ISLES TIE


Tomas Vokoun ponders during a break in play Wednesday night.

UNIONDALE, NY - The game started well as Paul Kariya scored in the opening 18 seconds of the first period but the Islanders couldn't hold on to the lead surrendering two answered goals giving them only one point.

It hasn't happened much this season, but on Wednesday night, the Nassau Memorial Coliseum was sounded with boos at the closing buzzer as the fans saw their home team throw away a 2-0 lead in a game where the two points was almost a must, settling for a single point instead.

After Paul Kariya opened the scoring only 18 seconds in rifling a hard shot through the legs of Anaheim goaltender Roberto Luongo, Jaroslav Svoboda scored on the powerplay tallying only his 2nd of the season, lifting a rebound over a fallen Luongo.

The Islanders dominated the Ducks in the opening frame, outshooting the visitors by a 12-1 margin, building up the 2-0 lead, but like some say, a 2-0 lead in hockey is one of the worst leads to have.

Geoff Sanderson notched his 40th of the season in the second period at 9:25 deflecting a Jason Williams shot through the legs of Tomas Vokoun, and Williams himself would score his 15th of the season in the third to tie the game at two goals apiece sending the game to an extra overtime period.

Overtime solved nothing as the Islanders were the only ones to fire any shots on net, and the game ended with each team skating away with a point.

Coupled with Carolina's win Wednesday over the Montreal Canadiens, the Islanders' playoff light continue to dim as they face the remainder of their schedule realizing they must not only win most of their remaining games, but have the Hurricanes lose the majority of theirs. Not an easy task considering the Hurricanes are in the midst of a three-game winning streak.

The Isles will get three days off to prepare for the final stretch before they face the Senators in Ottawa on Sunday.




ISLANDERS at SENATORS (0-1-0)
JETS at ISLANDERS (1-0-0)
KINGS at ISLANDERS (0-3-2)
ISLANDERS at FLAMES (2-0-0)
JETS at ISLANDERS (1-0-0)
ISLANDERS at PANTHERS (2-1-0)




HURRICANES at HAWKS (2-0-0)
PENGUINS at HURRICANES (1-2-0)
HURRICANES at AVALANCHE (1-0-0)
SENATORS at HURRICANES (1-2-0)
CANADIENS at HURRICANES (0-2-0)
HURRICANES at AVALANCHE (1-0-0)