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Guerin leads Islanders past Penguins

Mar 25, 2008 - 4:41 AM By Doug Mittler PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

UNIONDALE, New York (Ticker) -- Bill Guerin kept firing at Ty Conklin, and ultimately it left Pittsburgh Penguins coach Michel Therrien speechless.

Guerin had a goal and an assist in the second period after one of his slap shots caromed off the crossbar and Wade Dubielewicz stopped 28 shots as the Islanders played spoiler with a 4-1 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Petr Sykora scored for the Penguins, who lost for just the second time in their last seven games.

"I'm speechless about their effort. I'm speechless about their concentration," Therrien said. "The work effort was not there. It's unacceptable. Excuses are for losers."

After scoring 27 goals in its previous five contests, Pittsburgh could manage just one off Dubielewicz, who is seeing the bulk of the time in goal for New York after Rick DiPietro underwent season-ending hip surgery.

"He played a great game, but we really didn't test him as much as we should have," Pittsburgh center Jordan Staal said.

Pittsburgh again played without superstar center Sidney Crosby, who participated in the morning skate but missed his sixth straight game with an ankle injury.

With a game against New Jersey on Tuesday, the Penguins refused to call it a "trap" game, or one in which they took their opponents lightly.

"Certainly I don't think I played my best," Conklin said, "I think it was execution. I can't diagnose (the outcome)."

Conklin, who made a career-high 50 saves in the Penguins' last visit to Nassau Coliseum in February, stopped 32 shots.

Richard Park and Sean Bergenheim also scored and Miroslav Satan had two assists for the Islanders, who were officially eliminated from postseason contention after Sunday's loss to Philadelphia. New York won for just the second time in its last nine games, but that other win was as New Jersey on Friday.

"It feels a lot better here than it did a week ago," Bergenheim said. "I don't know if they were 100 percent into this game."

The injury-plagued Islanders played without center Mike Comrie, who was scratched due to the flu.

Guerin took a drop pass from Josef Vasicek and put a wrist shot from the right circle over the shoulder of Conklin at 11:45 of the second to give New York a 2-1 lead. Guerin nearly put the Islanders ahead three minutes earlier when his slap shot hit the crossbar.

"You'd like that (shot off the post) back but you just have to keep playing the game," Guerin said.

Bergenheim gave New York a two-goal lead when he put home a rebound of a wrist shot by Guerin at 14:53.

Dubielewicz, who improved to 3-0 in his career against Pittsburgh, kept it a two-goal edge with several nice saves during a Pittsburgh power play midway through the third.

"I hope everyone takes us for granted," Dubielewicz. "We have a feisty group." Trent Hunter then scored for New York at 12:41 of the third to increase the lead to 4-1.

Park opened the scoring with a shorthanded goal, beating Conklin with a slap shot from the top of the right circle at 3:22 of the first. Highly touted rookie Kyle Okposo, who scored the game-winner Friday at New Jersey, had the second assist.

The Penguins tied it 36 seconds later on the same power play when Sykora put home a rebound of a shot by Tyler Kennedy.