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Canwest News Service
Sidney Crosby spoiled rookie John Tavares's NHL debut with the deciding shootout goal for the Pittsburgh Penguins in the New York Islanders' season-opening loss last month.
Tavares got even against Crosby and the Penguins, scoring his first game-winning goal with 6:12 remaining in leading New York to a 3-2 victory on Friday.
Tavares's rebound goal from the right post was his 10th goal of the season to cap an Islanders two-goal rally in the final period. That marked the first time in 11 games New York won when trailing after two periods.
"It's nice to contribute when it matters most but overall it was a great team effort," Tavares said. "It starts from everyone and to cash in there was a bonus." Josh Bailey and Sean Bergenheim added goals, and Dwayne Roloson made 19 saves as New York scored two goals in the final period for its second win in three games.
Evgeni Malkin and Matt Cooke scored for Pittsburgh and Brent Johnson made 34 saves.
The Islanders killed off five power plays, including a key second-period 5-on-3, in snapping Pittsburgh's three-game winning streak.
Roloson has 77 saves in the past two games after stopping a regular-season franchise-record 58 shots against Toronto earlier this week.
KESSEL STRIKES TWICE
Niklas Hagman and Phil Kessel each scored two goals to lift the Toronto Maple Leafs to a 6-4 victory over the Florida Panthers on Friday night.
Alexei Ponikarovsky had a goal and three assists, Matt Stajan added an empty-netter with 4 seconds remaining, and Jonas Gustavsson stopped 26 shots.
Dmitry Kulikov scored twice for Florida, and Radek Dvorak and Michael Frolik had goals early in the first period. Tomas Vokoun made 27 saves for the Panthers, who have lost three straight.
Hagman beat Vokoun with a shot at 12:26 in the third period to make it 5-4 and give the Maple Leafs, coming off a 4-3 victory in Tampa Bay on Wednesday night, their first lead of the night.
KIPRUSOFF BLANKS WINGS
Miikka Kiprusoff was as busy as he was sensational Friday night.
The Calgary Flames netminder stopped 40 shots for his second shutout of the season, the 32nd of his career, in a 3-0 Flames victory over the Detroit Red Wings at Joe Louis Arena.
But the major storyline leading up the match had been the Wings' inability to score.
"I think they looked pretty normal," said Kiprusoff, chuckling. "Not an easy team to play."
But, while the rest of the United States experienced Black Friday — a big-league day for retailers and bargain-hunting shoppers –the Wings endured Blank Friday, thanks to Kiprusoff.
With the most recent goose-egg, the Wings, unthinkably, have not scored a single time in 153:22. And they've suffered back-to-back home-ice shutouts for the first time since 1977.
After 40 minutes, the shot count was 32-11 in favour of the Wings, but the goalie didn't lack offensive support.
Motor City fans were still taking their seats when Jamie Lundmark made it 1-0 . . . just 28 seconds in.
