St. Louis Leads Tampa Bay Over Slumping Devils
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TAMPA, Fla. — Martin St. Louis scored twice in the third period and Marc Denis made 34 saves overall to lead the Tampa Bay Lightning past the Devils 3–1 last night.
Eric Perrin stole an errant pass before setting up St. Louis’s first goal from the low right circle that gave the Lightning a 2–1 advantage at 9:42 of the third.
St. Louis made it 3–1 with 6:16 left, netting his 41st goal of the season. Vincent Lecavalier assisted for his 500th NHL point.
Jason Ward also scored for Tampa Bay, which moved within two points of Southeast Division-leading Atlanta.
New Jersey’s Martin Brodeur stopped 29 shots. Zach Parise had the lone goal for the Devils, who have lost four of five.
Ward put the Lightning ahead 1–0 at 11:23 of the first. Parise tied it with a power-play goal with 8:39 left in the second.
Denis made a diving stop in the second on an in-close shot by Jamie Langenbrunner.
Brodeur stopped 14 of 15 shots in the first.
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ISLANDERS 3, PENGUINS 1 Rick DiPietro turned aside 37 shots, and the Islanders snapped a fourgame losing streak by beating the Pittsburgh Penguins 3–1 lastnight.
Trent Hunter, Jason Blake and Viktor Kozlov scored for the Islanders after spotting the Penguins a 1–0 lead. The Islanders moved one point ahead of Toronto and into 10th place in the Eastern Conference playoff race. They trail Carolina and Montreal — at the playoff cutoff — by one point but have games in hand.
New York returned home following an 0–3–1 road trip.
Colby Armstrong scored and Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 32 shots for the Penguins, who after a defeat at the New York Rangers on Monday, have lost consecutive games in regulation for the first time since January 9–10.
