St. Louis continues to pick on Islanders
Martin St. Louis can always score against the New York Islanders, even when he struggles against everyone else.
Sure, the NHL’s reigning MVP and scoring champion had gone eight games without a goal, but St. Louis and the Tampa Bay Lightning had a matchup against New York – a team they have owned lately.
St. Louis scored the tying goal with 1:12 left in regulation and then set up Vincent Lecavalier for the breakaway winner in overtime that gave the defending Stanley Cup champions a 3-2 victory Monday night.
With Sean Burke pulled for an extra attacker, St. Louis got his stick on Dan Boyle’s shot from the right point and knocked the puck past goalie Rick DiPietro, who didn’t see it.
That tied the game at 2 and only set up more drama in overtime.
Usually, St. Louis scores winning goals against New York. He had done it in four straight matchups, including an overtime marker in Game 5 that ended the 2004 opening-round playoff series – Tampa Bay’s first step toward the Stanley Cup title.
“I felt we had control of the game,” St. Louis said. “We just had to keep pushing, and it paid off.”
Senators 5, Penguins 2: At Ottawa, Peter Schaefer had two goals and an assist, and backup goalie Ray Emery got his first win in more than a month as Ottawa beat Pittsburgh.
Flames 4, Sharks 3: At San Jose, Calif., Miikka Kiprusoff made 28 saves against his former teammates as Calgary held off San Jose.
Stars 4, Predators 2: At Dallas, Bill Guerin scored his first goal in 19 games with less than a second remaining in the second period, finally converting a power-play chance as Dallas beat Nashville.
Oilers 6, Mighty Ducks 5 (SO): At Edmonton, Alberta, Fernando Pisani scored the shootout winner and added a goal and an assist in regulation to lead Edmonton past Anaheim. Pisani’s score was the lone shootout goal.
Canucks 7, Blue Jackets 4: At Vancouver, B.C., Daniel Sedin and Markus Naslund scored power-play goals 3 minutes apart in the third to end a late Columbus rally and give Vancouver a win.
Primeau visits specialist
Flyers center Keith Primeau could be close to making a decision about his future after he met with a concussion specialist in Toronto.
Primeau, still recovering from a concussion suffered Oct. 25 in Montreal, is visiting with doctors until today to see if there’s any way he can return to play this season, or ever.
“It’s just a difficult decision and I haven’t set a day where I am going to make any formal announcement,” Primeau said on the team’s Web site. “I know that making the decision, though, is in the not-too-distant future.”
GM Bob Clark has asked for a decision by the end of the Olympic break.