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Nielsen, MacDonald lift Islanders past Canucks

Nov 18, 2008 - 4:16 AM UNIONDALE, New York (Ticker) -- Frans Nielsen scored in the first round of the shootout and Joey MacDonald stopped all three attempts in the bonus format as the New York Islanders recorded a 2-1 triumph over the Vancouver Canucks on Monday.

Doug Weight tallied in regulation and MacDonald turned aside 31 shots for New York, which has won three in a row after dropping nine of its previous 11 games.

The three-game win streak is the team's longest since they won six in a row last season from February 12-21.

"We have been playing well the last three or four games. You have to pick your game up against a guy like that (Vancouver goaltender Roberto Luongo)," MacDonald said. "He's not going to let too many in. If you get down a couple of goals, it's a long way back."

Pavol Demitra scored and Luongo finished with 34 saves against his former team for Vancouver, which fell to 4-2-1 in its last seven games.

Nielsen, who had an assist in regulation, netted the lone tally in the shootout after slipping a backhander past Luongo to give the Islanders an early advantage.

"I knew what I was going to do," Nielsen said. "(Luongo) is a big guy. I tried to fake a shot like I was going five-hole. He went down, and I went to my backhand and tried to get it up, and it worked."

MacDonald did the rest, denying Kyle Wellwood and Demitra with pad saves before poke-checking the puck away from Alex Burrows in the third round of the bonus session.

"I thought he was going to shoot, but he deked, and I got my stick on the puck," MacDonald said of Burrows' chance.

Demitra opened the scoring just 49 seconds into the contest after accepting a feed from Daniel Sedin and blasting a shot past MacDonald for his third goal of the season.

With his team on the power play, Weight leveled the contest with 5:25 remaining in the second period after unleashing a slap shot from the left point which beat a thoroughly screened Luongo for his fourth tally of the campaign.

"I thought our guys came out with good energy in both ends of the rink, but for some reason we were totally flat in the second," Vancouver coach Alain Vigneault said. "There were a lot of turnovers that led to good scoring opportunities. I like the way we came back in the third and battled hard, but we came up short."

Daniel Sedin agreed with his coach's assessment.

"We lost some momentum when we took penalties in the second," he said. "They got shots and scoring chances on the power play, and the momentum turned around. Every goalie we face seems to be on top of their game. We have to find a way to get some dirty goals - get around the net and get some garbage goals."