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OTTAWA (Ticker) -- The prospects for a New York Islanders' victory were bleak before rookie Mattias Weinhandl took matters into his own hands. Weinhandl scored two goals and set up another and Dave Scatchard added a goal and an assist to lead the Islanders to a 5-2 triumph over the league-leading Ottawa Senators in a possible first-round playoff matchup. Battling to hold on to the final playoff berth in the Eastern Conference, New York was winless in the previous 11 meetings with the Senators and had just one victory in the last 29 matchups. But after assisting on Scatchard's tally, Weinhandl snapped a 1-1 tie late in the first period with his fifth goal of the season. He completed his first career multi-goal game by giving the Islanders a 4-1 cushion midway through the second. Alexei Yashin and defenseman Roman Hamrlik added power-play goals for New York, which moved five points ahead of Montreal and within three of seventh-place Boston. "We're just trying to win hockey games," Scatchard said. "I think early on, we got caught up in what other people were doing and not worrying about what we had to do in this room to be successful." "We're not looking toward a matchup with these guys yet," Islanders coach Peter Laviolette said. "We're looking at tonight's win as us gaining ground on team No. 9 and No. 10 in the standings. "We were ready tonight, I could feel it in the warmup. We've got great character guys on this team and it's not difficult to get them up for a game." Bryan Smolinski and Marian Hossa tallied for the Senators, who had a five-game winning streak snapped while losing to the Islanders for the first time since April 6, 2000. "We knew they would come hard because they're trying to stay in the playoffs," Hossa said. "We were not as sharp as we should have been. Out of everything bad, there may be something good to come out of it. Remembering this game will make us more determined if we do face them." Ottawa goaltender Martin Prusek left with a concussion late in the first period when New York captain Michael Peca fell on him after being cross-checked by Shaun Van Allen. Patrick Lalime replaced Prusek and allowed four goals on 16 shots. "I was just going for the puck," Peca said. "I had an open net and was trying to score. I was caught in mid-air and couldn't help where I was going to land." After ending a five-game winless slide Thursday against Edmonton, the Islanders grabbed the lead when Scatchard took a feed from Arron Asham and whipped it past Prusek from low in the left faceoff circle at 11:46. Attempting to extend their home winning streak to five games, the Senators drew even less than two minutes later. From behind the net, Hossa dished to Smolinski on the doorstep and the newest Senator beat Garth Snow at 13:33 for his first goal since being acquired from Los Angeles at Tuesday's trade deadline. "Hossa made an unbelievable play," Smolinski said. "He made Snow think he was going to try a wraparound and he made a nice pass to me. Fish (Mike Fisher) put a pick on a couple of guys, which gave me room, and I just had to flip it in." With the Isles applying pressure, Prusek went down, taking Ottawa's fortunes with him. Skating into the Senators' zone, Weinhandl deked around defenseman Wade Redden and beat Lalime with the first shot he saw at 17:33 to give New York a 2-1 advantage. "He's grown on me with every game and he's a wonderful talent," Laviolette said. "The key to his game is to keep working hard and his skills will take over. He definitely has a bright future in our organization." Midway through the second period, Yashin burned his former team while on the power play. After grabbing the puck in the left corner, Yashin skated into the circle and fired a wrist shot that found its way between Lalime's right pad and the near goalpost to give the Isles a 3-1 lead. Weinhandl completed his third three-point game of the season less than a minute later, knocking in a loose puck from the doorstep at 12:40 after teammate Jason Wiemer lost control at the side of the net. "The last goal for me was the best," Weinhandl said. "It was great work by Scatch and Wiemer down low. They created good traffic and it gave me a good chance to score. I play with two great players. We work very hard to get the puck and to score." "He sees the ice well and is great in the corners," Scatchard said of his Swedish teammate. "Despite the fact that he's a smaller guy, he's upped our skill level and you can see his confidence rise with every shift." Hamrlik blasted a rising slap shot from the left point just inside the right post with 8:48 remaining for a power-play goal, extending his points streak to four games. Hossa netted his 41st of the season with 2:36 to play, moving within a goal of Vancouver's Markus Naslund for the league lead, but it was academic as the Islanders posted just their second win in their last 14 visits to Ottawa. |
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