Bruins Rout On The Island

It took some time for the Boston Bruins to finally figure out Roberto Luongo.

P.J. Axelsson and Anson Carter each scored twice as the Bruins won 7-3 Tuesday night over the Islanders. It was Boston's first victory over New York's rookie goalie.

"Roberto had an off night, and I think he'll be the first to tell you that," Islanders coach Butch Goring said. "He's a young goalie, and he's going to have nights like these."

Luongo had beaten the Bruins twice this season. The first time was for his first NHL victory, and the second gave him his first shutout. But Luongo, who gave up nine goals in his last start, looked shaky and gave up a bad goal to Joe Murphy at 13:55.

Murphy sent the puck towards Luongo with a simple wrist shot from just outside the blue line. The puck hit off the left post and got past the startled goalie.

Claude Lapointe tied the game at 2:59 of the second period on a stuff-in from the right crease, but Axelsson scored the first of his pair at 6:50 off a faceoff.

"We talked a lot about faceoffs yesterday in practice and told everybody to be aware," Goring said. "Then they score a goal off a faceoff. These are the growing pains you have with a young team."

Carter scored the first of three goals in a 95-second span late in the period. He tipped Marty McSorley's point shot past Luongo at 17:39.

VladimiChebaturkin answered back for New York at 18:30 with his first NHL goal, a backhander from the slot that went in off the right post past Byron Dafoe.

Axelsson gave the Bruins another two-goal lead at 19:04 when his 35-foot shot deflected up off a skate and fooled Luongo.

"I thought we were going to tighten up a bit after that second goal," Boston coach Pat Burns said. "It was just a terrible goal to give up at that point. I had visions of games past, but Axel's goal gave us some momentum back."

Boston sealed the win two minutes into the final period on a gorgeous goal by Joe Thornton. Knocked down in the slot, Thornton maintained control of the puck as two Islanders overskated. He wristed a shot past Luongo while seated.

"Someone's smiling down on you," Carter said. "Joe (Thornton)'s goal was a thing of beauty, and we caught a break on Joe Murphy's goal."

Jason Allison scored a power-play goal at 13:12, and Carter scored again at 17:49.

Bill Muckalt got New York's third goal at 19:30.

The win was the first for the Bruins in eight tries (1-5-2-2), and the loss was the fourth straight for the Islanders. New York has given up 20 goals in three games, 16 of them by Luongo.

"I really don't know if the Pittsburgh game affected me tonight," Luongo said. "The only thing for sure is that I didn't feel very good out there tonight. I was shaky, and left a lot of rebounds."

Burns said this was an important victory for his team.

"We were playing some pretty good hockey lately, but haven't been able to get over the hump," he said. "If we lost tonight's game, it would have been devastating. The win will hopefully give us some confidence."

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