Tuesday, March 25, 2003
Devils 4, Islanders 2
UNIONDALE, N.Y. (AP) -- Joe Nieuwendyk had a goal and an assist as the New Jersey Devils won for the fourth time in five games, beating the New York Islanders 4-2 on Saturday night.
Pascal Rheaume, Jamie Langenbrunner and John Madden also scored for the Devils, who extended their Atlantic Division lead over Philadelphia to four points, though the Flyers have a game in hand.
Martin Brodeur made 18 saves for his 38th victory.
Oleg Kvasha and Janne Niinimaa scored for the Islanders, who have lost three straight games at home. The Islanders are eighth in the Eastern Conference, just four points ahead of the New York Rangers and Montreal for the final playoff spot.
New Jersey, 3-0-1-0 against the Islanders this season, opened the scoring at 3:18 of the first period. Jim McKenzie took a shot from the left wall that Garth Snow stopped, but Rheaume, cruising down the slot untouched, put the rebound home.
The Islanders tied it four seconds after a power play expired. Kvasha's sharp-angle shot from deflected off defenseman Ken Daneyko past Brodeur. New Jersey took the lead on a power-play goal by Langenbrunner off a scramble at 10:46 of the second period.
Nieuwendyk increased the Devils' lead to 3-1 at 15:47 when his sharp-angle shot from the right side hit Snow's pads and somehow trickled in. Niinimaa picked up a power-play goal with 6:49 left in the game when he one-timed Mark Parrish's pass. Madden scored an empty-net goal with 47.4 seconds to go.
Notes: Home ice hasn't been much of an advantage for the Islanders this season. New York is 15-15-6-2 at Nassau Coliseum, and 18-15-4-0 on the road. ... New Jersey is 9-6-1-1 in the second game of back-to-back contests. The Devils have two more sets of consecutive games in the regular season.