• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Hurricanes rally to beat Islanders in overtime

Jan 21, 2008 - 11:09 PM By Doug Mittler PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

UNIONDALE, New York (Ticker) -- Defenseman Mike Commodore called it "gross." Coach Peter Laviolette termed it "awkward." That did not matter to Cory Stillman, who liked what he saw in a comeback win by the Carolina Hurricanes.

Stillman scored a power-play goal 52 seconds into overtime, lifting the Hurricanes to a 3-2 victory over the New York Islanders on Monday and giving Carolina back-to-back triumphs for the first time in more than a month.

"Back-to-back wins - first time we've done that in a while," Stillman said. "Tonight wasn't the best game we played, but we found a way to win."

Cam Ward stopped 23 shots for the Hurricanes, who last won consecutive games December 15-18 against the Philadelphia Flyers and Toronto Maple Leafs.

The Islanders and Hurricanes complete their home-and-home series in Raleigh on Tuesday night.

After trailing, 2-0, through 40 minutes, Carolina tied the contest with a pair of goals in the third period. The Hurricanes pulled even when defenseman Niclas Wallin's slap shot from just inside the blue line went between the legs of goaltender Rick DiPietro with 4:40 left in regulation.

New York took two late penalties, the first coming when blue-liner Radek Martinek slammed Eric Staal into the boards for a boarding call with 1:23 left. After the Islanders successfully killed that penalty, Islanders defenseman Andy Sutton cross-checked Hurricanes captain Rod Brind'Amour in front of the net 37 seconds into overtime.

The two penalties came after the officials failed to call a cross-check on Commodore, who had scored at 3:39 of the third to cut the deficit to 2-1.

The non-call on Commodore infuriated Islanders coach Ted Nolan.

"One of our players get cross-checked and there's no call," he said. "One of their players gets touched and he dives and there's a call. Those type of things you have no control over."

The Hurricanes quickly cashed in during the overtime power play as Staal assisted on Stillman's game-winner.

Staal slid a perfect pass to Stillman, who was stationed in front. His first attempt was stopped by DiPietro, but he stuffed in the rebound for his 21st goal of the season.

"I saw the pass coming to me and first, it hit my skate," Stillman said. "It's a bounce I haven't been getting in a while."

The Islanders, who had been 15-0-0 when leading after two periods, suffered their fourth straight home loss. They have squandered two-goal leads in each of their last two games, falling here to the Flyers, 5-3, on Saturday.

"I think sometimes when you get a lead at home, you take it for granted," New York captain Bill Guerin said. "It's a learning experience. We'll take the point."

Former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell dropped the ceremonial first puck in honor of Project Hope, a program of Islanders owner Charles Wang that brings ice hockey to China. Several youth teams were on the ice before the game, perhaps affecting the playing surface.

"It was a gross game," Commodore said. "The ice was terrible. Pucks were bouncing all over the place. Each team got a couple of lucky goals."

After a scoreless first period, the Islanders tallied twice in the second. Andy Hilbert opened the scoring at 3:17 of the session, when the fourth-line center put a backhander over the shoulder of Ward, who made 23 saves.

Miroslav Satan doubled the lead when he took a drop pass from Blake Comeau and put a wrist shot from the right faceoff circle past Ward at 12:57.

"It was a very awkward game," Laviolette said. "There were not a lot of tape-to-tape passes, and it was difficult to get a lot of movement. We played our best period in the third."

DiPietro stopped 26 shots for the Islanders.