The New York Islanders finally found a way to hold a third-period lead.
Outshot and on the road, the Islanders rode a strong performance by backup goalie Joey MacDonald to beat the rival Rangers.
After melting down in the third period in the last two games, the Islanders got a pair of short-handed goals in the final frame from Nate Thompson and Richard Park in a 2-1 win on Tuesday night.
The Rangers outshot them 36-19, but the Islanders didn’t buckle, killing off four power plays in the win.
“After the second period, we made a point to say, ‘Let’s let them beat themselves. Let’s let them make some mistakes and try to capitalize on some opportunities. If we can do that and sneak two points out of here, then it’s a good win,”’ Park said.
In their previous two games the Islanders squandered three-goal leads in the third, losing 5-4 to Montreal before beating Columbus in overtime.
The Islanders’ two-game win streak followed six straight losses (0-5-1).
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MacDonald, filling in for injured goalie Rick DiPietro, saw his bid for his first NHL shutout end when Markus Naslund scored with 1:41 left.
“This time of the year, the wins are more important,” MacDonald said.
The Rangers have dropped two straight after a franchise-best 10-2-1 start. The Rangers squandered a 2-0 lead in the third period of a 5-2 loss at Toronto on Saturday.
Hurricanes 5, Maple Leafs 4, OT
At Toronto, Niclas Wallin scored 1:52 into overtime and the Hurricanes blew a three-goal lead before pulling out a victory over the Maple Leafs.
Tuomo Ruutu, Dennis Seidenberg, Chad LaRose and Ryan Bayda scored for Carolina (7-3-2).
Mikhail Grabovski had two goals and Niklas Hagman and Mike Van Ryn also scored for the Maple Leafs (5-4-4).
Senators 2, Capitals 1, OT
At Ottawa, Mike Fisher scored his first goal of the season with just under 40 seconds left in overtime to give the Senators a win over the Capitals.
Fisher took Daniel Alfredsson’s pass and fired a shot past Brent Johnson into an open left side with 39.9 seconds remaining in the extra period.
Dany Heatley scored his eighth goal of the season early in the second for Ottawa, which improved to 3-0-1 in its last four games.
Tomas Fleischmann drew Washington even at 1 with his fourth goal just 2:13 after Heatley scored.
Sharks 3, Wild 1
ie McGinn and Ryan Clowe scored within 2:14 of each other in the third period of San Jose’s victory over Minnesota.
Mike Grier also scored for the Sharks, who remained unbeaten at home in seven games and own the best record in the NHL at 11-2.
Krystofer Kolanos scored for the Wild, who lost their eighth straight against the Sharks.
Coyotes 4, Flames 2
At Calgary, Alberta, Ed Jovanovski, Derek Morris and Steve Reinprecht scored their first goals of the season to lead Phoenix over Calgary.
Jovanovski broke a 2-2 tie at 11:52 of the second period with a low slap shot from the blue line that trickled in off the glove of goalie Miikka Kiprusoff.
Shane Doan also scored for Phoenix, which snapped a three-game road losing streak.
Daymond Langkow and Dustin Boyd scored for Calgary.
Canucks 4, Predators 0
At Vancouver, British Columbia, Kyle Wellwood scored twice and Roberto Luongo made 24 saves for his third shutout of the season, lifting the Canucks over Nashville.
Wellwood opened the scoring on the power play midway through the second period, and Mason Raymond doubled the lead with a power-play goal 5:36 into the third. Wellwood added his second goal after a pretty deke in tight just 59 seconds later as the Canucks won for the third time in the last four games.
Daniel Sedin added the final goal off a nice touch pass from twin brother Henrik.
Kings 0, OT
At Los Angeles, Chris Pronger scored 40 seconds into overtime and Jean-Sebastien Giguere made 35 saves to lift the Ducks over the Kings.
Pronger drilled a 45-foot slap shot past Kings goalie Erik Ersberg just after a Ducks power play ended to give Anaheim the victory. It was Giguere’s second shutout of the season and the 31st of his career.
The Ducks have earned 15 of 16 standings points (6-0-1) in their last eight games.
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