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Drury propels Rangers past Islanders

Oct 28, 2008 - 2:39 AM By Doug Mittler PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

UNIONDALE, New York (Ticker) -- The New York Rangers are off to a fast start. Now captain Chris Drury is joining in on the fun

Drury netted his first two goals of the season and Ryan Callahan tallied snap a tie in the second period as the Rangers recorded a 4-2 triumph over the injury-plagued New York Islanders on Monday.

While the Rangers (9-2-1) have the highest point total in the NHL, Monday marked the first two tallies for Drury, who scored 25 for the Rangers last season and has 219 in his career.

"In the big picture, it wasn't necessarily about scoring, scoring, scoring," Drury said. "It was about playing better and getting more involved."

Scott Gomez also scored and Henrik Lundqvist stopped 27 shots for the Rangers, who won their third straight game.

"When you're confident and keep playing the way you should and you have that support in front of you, it's a fun game," Lundqvist said.

It was the first of six meetings this season between the New York-area rivals, who are headed in opposite directions. Less than a month into the season, the Rangers already own a 15-point bulge over the Islanders in the Atlantic Division, the largest lead of any division in the NHL.

Rookie Kyle Okposo and defenseman Mark Streit scored for the Islanders, who dropped their fourth straight game.

Joey MacDonald started in net for the Islanders in place of Rick DiPietro, the franchise goaltender who left Saturday's loss to the Carolina Hurricanes with what the team is now saying is an injury "unrelated to previous injuries." DiPietro, who did not play the first four games of the season due to a knee injury.

MacDonald stopped 35 shots and stood up well under the pressure.He even took a hard shot from defenseman Dmitri Kalinin off his mask in the third period.

"It knocked a couple of clips off," MacDonald said. "I just have to keep working. Hopefully we'll get more bounces our way."

The Rangers took the lead just 75 seconds into the game when Drury scored off a scramble in front. With the Rangers holding a two-man advantage midway through the third, Drury scored on a slap shot near the top of the left circle to give the Rangers a 4-2 lead.

"It means a lot. He's a big scorer for us," Callahan said. "For him to get on the scoresheet goal-wise is a little bonus for the way he's been playing."

MacDonald played behind an injury-plagued defensive corps which suffered another blow when it learned that Brendan Witt will be out three-to-four weeks with a lower body injury suffered last week. The Islanders also played without Freddy Meyer, who was scratched due to an abdominal injury.

The undermanned Islanders were able to keep pace for about half the game before the Rangers took control.

"We played really well for about 30 minutes," Islanders coach Scott Gordon said. "We thought we were building on what we did against Carolina (on Saturday) and then we got away from it."

Callahan's first goal of the season with 3:44 left in the second period to give the Rangers a 2-1 lead. Defenseman Paul Mara took a shot from the point which deflected off the stick of Trent Hunter. Callahan gained control of the puck and beat MacDonald with a wrist shot for his third goal of the season.

Gomez, standing to the right of the goal, scored his third goal of the campaign off a rebound at 6:52 of the third.

The Islanders tied it at 1-1 with eight seconds left in the first period when Richard Park dug the puck out of the corner and fed rookie Okposo, who beat Lundqvist with a wrister.

Streit scored the final goal of the game with 1:56 left.