Leafs Thumped By Islanders
Posted December 26, 2008 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Bill Guerin scored twice to reach 400 goals, Rick DiPietro made 28 saves in his first game since late October, and the New York Islanders snapped a 10-game losing streak with a 4-1 victory over Toronto on Friday night.
Guerin became the 79th NHL player, and the eighth U.S.-born player, to score 400 goals. He also is the third player to accomplish the feat in an Islanders uniform.
Kyle Okposo and Freddy Meyer also scored for the Islanders, 0-9-1 since their last victory Nov. 29. Lee Stempniak scored for Toronto, and Vesa Toskala stopped 27 shots. The Maple Leafs have lost two straight after winning five of six.
DiPietro got involved early in the contest. He stopped the first two shots he saw, and then threw a pass up the right wall for Okposo, who skated into the Toronto zone and fired a sharp angle shot that hit Toskala and deflected in at 3:47.
With the assist, DiPietro broke Billy Smith’s franchise record for career points by a goalie with 14. DiPietro has 14 assists, while Smith had a goal and 13 assists.
DiPietro returned after missing 27 games following his second knee surgery in five months. Coming off surgery on his right knee in June, DiPietro had appeared in only three games this season, the last a one-period stint against Carolina on Oct. 25. He had arthroscopic surgery on Oct. 31 to repair a torn meniscus, but the Islanders wouldn’t reveal which knee was injured.
Guerin gave New York a 2-1 lead at 6:27 of the second when he deflected Josh Bailey’s wrist shot off the post and in. Guerin netted No. 400 – his 13th of the season – early in the third period when he buried Chris Campoli’s shot past Toskala at 3:34.
