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Park fuels Islanders past Bruins

Nov 25, 2007 - 4:05 AM UNIONDALE, New York (Ticker) -- Richard Park was in the right place at the right time.

Park scored the game-winning goal in the third period as the New York Islanders rallied to defeat the Boston Bruins, 2-1, on Saturday.

With the score tied at 1-1 in the third period, Radek Martinek fired a shot from the right circle which goaltender Tim Thomas kicked out. Ruslan Fedotenko's rebound caromed off of Thomas' pads before Park banked home a second rebound over the prone goaltender.

"We had some pressure and got the puck on net," Park said. "I battled for the puck. It just came and I tipped it in."

Park, who is only the second player born in Korea to play in the NHL, has two tallies this season and 12 in two campaigns with New York.

"We generated some chances," Islanders goaltender Rick DiPietro said. "We kept it simple. We got pucks to the net and created confusion down there. You saw that on the second goal. We continued to pound the puck to the net and Park got rewarded."

Andy Hilbert scored his first goal of the season and DiPietro made 11 of his 20 total stops in the third period for New York, which snapped a modest two-game losing streak.

"I thought it was probably our best team game we've played this season," Islanders coach Ted Nolan said. "We had contributions from everybody tonight."

The victory also helped the Islanders exact revenge for Friday's 2-1 loss to the Bruins.

Boston opened the scoring in the first period when defenseman P.J. Axelsson took a cross-ice feed from Marc Savard before one-timing a shot from inside the left circle, beating DiPietro to his glove side less than four minutes into the contest.

"P.J. is great offensively," Savard said. "He just has to believe in himself. He made a good play to me and I knew Ricky was jumping across the net, so I gave it right back to P.J. and he put it in."

Hilbert, who was without a point in his previous 19 games, leveled the contest with 2:35 remaining in the second period.

Hilbert took a feed from Mike Sillinger in the neutral zone before rifling a shot from the top of the left faceoff circle that beat Thomas stick side.

"I crossed the blue line and (Aaron) Ward screened him (Thomas). I got a good shot off, but it was nothing special," Hilbert said. "Last year, I went 23 games without a goal. But once I got one, I got going a little bit."

It was Hilbert's first goal since March 25 of last season.

"It was a good shot by Hilbert," Thomas said. "He effectively used a screen. I played with him in Providence and I knew he does that. I lost it for a second and that's when he decided to shoot."

DiPietro improved to 7-3-0 at home this season and 6-3-0-2 all-time against Boston.

Thomas made 27 saves for the Bruins, who have not won at Nassau Coliseum since a 4-2 victory on December 22, 2001.