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Smashed by Yash Canadiens' playoff hopes hindered by 6-3 loss to IslandersPosted: Thursday March 20, 2003 10:23 PMUpdated: Thursday March 20, 2003 11:55 PM
MONTREAL (AP) -- Alexei Yashin's biggest game of the season firmed up the New York Islanders' drive to the playoffs -- and all but ended Montreal's. Yashin scored twice and tied a career high with his fifth career five-point game to lead New York to a 6-3 victory over the Canadiens on Thursday night. After getting just eight points in his previous 22 games, Yashin set up goals by Arron Asham and Oleg Kvasha before scoring his 17th and 18th goals of the season in the second. He set up Dave Scatchard's empty-net goal for his third assist of the game. "I feel very good about it, but most importantly we got the win," Yashin said. "I'm more happy about that than scoring five points. It's not something I haven't done before. "It's always nice to score some goals and make some plays, but the best thing is to get these two points and hopefully we can eliminate the Montreal Canadiens from fighting for a playoff spot." Jason Blake also scored and Garth Snow made 32 saves for New York, which got its 78th point to tie Boston for seventh in the East. Donald Audette, Andreas Dackell and Jason Ward scored for Montreal, which lost its third straight and is winless in its last seven home games. The Canadiens recognized that their playoff hopes all but disappeared with the loss as they fell eight points behind the Islanders with seven games -- one less than New York -- left. "It's not impossible, but in a way it is," Canadiens captain Saku Koivu said. A significant portion of the sold-out Bell Centre crowd of 21,273 booed throughout the singing of the Star Spangled Banner before the game. "I'm sure there are a lot of people against the war, but some things people can't control," the Russian-born Yashin said. "They were probably showing what they feel about it." His American teammates had a much more emotional reaction to the anti-war display. "Obviously, it's rather upsetting," said forward Mark Parrish, a native of Bloomington, Minn. "I came to the game pretty pumped up but once I heard that, that really got me going so I guess I can maybe thank them a little bit for getting me pumped up." The Canadiens allowed goals 40 seconds apart by Blake and Kvasha less than one minute into the second to fall behind 3-0. After Asham opened the scoring with his 12th 7:39 in, Blake put the Islanders up by two just 11 seconds into the second with his 25th goal. Yashin, who set up Asham's goal with a pass into the crease, made a similar play on Kvasha's 10th goal at 51 seconds. Montreal's frustration boiled over moments later when Koivu was sent off at 4:41 for elbowing Blake in the head along the left wing boards. Joe Juneau topped Koivu's display when he grabbed New York defenseman Adrian Aucoin's stick and flung it high in the air to give the Islanders a 5-on-3 for 1:06 when he was sent off for holding the stick at 5:35. New York needed just 36 seconds of the two-man advantage to go up 4-0 as Yashin scored off a rebound of Aucoin's shot at 6:11. Audette scored his eighth on a power play at 8:49 to make it 4-1, but Yashin got his second of the period with an unassisted goal at 13:45 as he held onto the puck before shooting over Jose Theodore to restore the Islanders' four-goal lead. Dackell and Ward scored in the third to draw Montreal to make it 5-3 before Scatchard scored into an empty net with 19.4 seconds left. Notes: Yashin, who had four three-point games this season,
regained the team scoring lead with 55 points, two more than Blake.
... Theodore had his mask knocked off twice in separate collisions
in the third, first when Blake collided with him early in the
period and again when he was struck by Mattias Weinhandl. Theodore
charged to the side boards to go after Weinhandl, who was penalized
for goaltender interference.
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