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Sillinger scores twice as Islanders end six-game skid

Jan 10, 2007 - 4:34 AM NEW YORK (Ticker) -- Mike Sillinger picked the right game to help the New York Islanders end their recent slump.

Sillinger scored twice and Viktor Kozlov added a goal and two assists as the Islanders snapped a six-game losing streak with a 5-3 victory over the New York Rangers.

The 35-year-old Sillinger, who has four tallies in his last four contests, recorded his second two-goal game of the season to help the Islanders defeat the Rangers for the fourth time in as many meetings this season.

"I think it was just one of those games where we're due to come out of a little bit of a slump," Islanders coach Ted Nolan said. "The last six games, the puck hasn't been bouncing our way. But tonight, you have to give this team a lot of credit. They were pretty resilient on their effort and they worked themselves through it."

"I think our resiliency when we play these guys is phenomenal," Islanders goaltender Rick DiPietro said. "You heard it last time we played them. We bent but we didn't break. That's something that the last six games kind of haunted us a little bit."

After Kozlov broke a 3-3 tie with a one-timer from the left faceoff circle at 5:17 of the third period, Sillinger scored his second of the night just 27 seconds later by drilling his own rebound past goaltender Henrik Lundqvist's left pad.

"They were just trying to go cross ice (and) I just stepped in the way and picked the pass off," Sillinger said. "I guess I got fortunate, got my rebound, shoved it to the net with my backhand, and boom, there it was on my forehand."

"We were brutal," Rangers coach Tom Renney said. "We're brutal against these guys. We had no concept of team camaraderie. We had no concept of team play, no concept of circling the wagons to go play these guys intelligently. We beat ourselves."

The Rangers tied the game at 3-3 on Brendan Shanahan's power-play goal just 42 seconds into the third period. Shanahan one-timed Jaromir Jagr's setup from the right faceoff circle past DiPietro for his 24th tally of the season and 622nd career.

Defenseman Brendan Witt netted his first tally of the campaign with 1:23 remaining in the opening period before Sillinger scored his first of the game at 6:26 of the second to give the Islanders a 3-2 lead.

"It was a big goal," Witt said. "We could have been down 2-1 after one. I think it helped a lot. We competed hard and we killed off some big penalties and we get the win."

Jagr recorded his first goal in nine games and tied Dino Ciccarelli for 14th place in career goals by netting his 608th midway through the opening session to put the Rangers on top, 2-1.

"They are a physical team," Jagr said. "That is a big reason why we didn't win against them this season. Of course we're upset. That is the right word. I thought we played a pretty good first period and then all of a sudden it's 2-2. It has a lot to do with offense on both sides. They scored on their opportunities."

Miroslav Satan opened the scoring at 5:31 of the first period and DiPietro made 28 saves for the Islanders, who are 9-11-1 on the road.

"It's a fun place to play, especially when you win," DiPietro said. "The biggest thing is you get that extra intensity when you play these guys, but the job still remains the same. You got to stop the puck and that's what I'm trying to do."

Martin Straka had a goal and two assists and Lundqvist stopped 21 shots in his eighth straight start for the Rangers, who had a four-game winning streak ended.

"Today we didn't play well in our zone," Lundqvist said. "We played well in the offensive zone but in our zone, we weren't really at the right place at the right time. They took advantage of our mistakes."

"We did some dumb things from start to finish," Renney said. "There was a point in time where we had about six minutes of real good transition hockey during which we got our second goal. Then there was a ridiculous line change, a delayed penalty and they scored."