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Robitaille's shootout tally lifts Islanders over Maple Leafs

Feb 23, 2007 - 7:07 AM UNIONDALE, New York (Ticker) -- Trent Hunter produced in regulation for the New York Islanders. Randy Robitaille and Rick DiPietro came through afterward.

Hunter scored his second goal of the game with six minutes to go in the third period and Robitaille netted the only tally of the shootout as the Islanders posted a 3-2 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs.

After allowing two goals on Toronto's first 17 shots, DiPietro stopped the final 12 he faced and denied all three of the Maple Leafs' shootout opportunities as New York won for the fourth time in five games. The Islanders, who are one point behind Carolina for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, also have earned a point in 13 of their last 14 contests.

"(The win) was huge," said DiPietro, who is 4-1-0 with 12 goals allowed in his last five starts. "They have a good team, and it's desperate times for both clubs. We came out in the third period with a good work ethic."

"I don't know if we gave it away," said Toronto's John Pohl, whose team trails New York by one point. "We played pretty well. They won the game, we didn't."

Miroslav Satan and Viktor Kozlov were unable to score against Andrew Raycroft on New York's first two shootout chances, but Robitaille snapped the puck over the goaltender's right pad to give the Islanders a 1-0 edge.

"I know (Raycroft) is good low, so I had to make sure the angle in his feet was changing up and then see what I had," Robitaille said. "I knew what I was going to do before I shot. Luckily, it worked out."

DiPietro preserved the triumph when he poke-checked the puck away from Alexei Ponikarovsky on Toronto's final attempt.

"I just put my stick on it, poke-checked it and made a stick save," DiPietro said.

The netminder finished with 27 saves for New York, which also posted a shootout win at Toronto on February 13.

Hunter drew New York within 2-1 with 58 seconds left in the second period, when he deflected defenseman Sean Hill's shot out of mid-air and past Raycroft.

The right wing forged a tie at 13:56 of the third period, redirecting blue-liner Tom Poti's shot from the left point between Raycroft's pads. Hunter entered with just one goal in his previous eight contests.

"On the first one, the puck was coming to the net and I tried to just pull it in a little bit," Hunter said. "I was able to catch the goalie going the wrong way. The second one, Potsie made a great play to get the shot to the net, and I was just able to get a stick on it."

Hunter's multi-goal effort was his second of the season. He also tallied twice in a 4-2 win over Montreal on February 3.

Ponikarovsky and Matt Stajan tallied 2:03 apart midway through the second period for the Maple Leafs, who have dropped five of seven.

Toronto believed it took a 3-1 lead at 2:37 of the third period, when captain Mats Sundin's shot beat DiPietro, who was run into by Ponikarovsky. After a video review, the goal was disallowed because of incidental contact.

"I don't know what the officials were looking at, but I think they made the wrong call," said Ponikarovsky, who did not receive a penalty on the play. "After the goal, I got cross-checked from behind and I fell, and that was it. When Mats was shooting at the net, I was clearly out of the goalie's zone."