Potvin, Isles Halt Devils
One game won't salvage the season for either Felix Potvin or the New York Islanders.
But one game though might have shown the Islanders that trading away one of their young stars for Potvin could have been the right move after all.
Potvin came up with one of the best goaltending performances of the season, stopping 55 of the New Jersey Devils' franchise-record 57 shots in leading the Islanders to a 4-2 victory on Monday night.
"He played really well," said Devils goaltender Martin Brodeur, who faced only 23 shots. "There is no doubt he was the difference tonight."
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Potvin's performance was by far the highlight of what has been a dismal season for both him and the Islanders, who will miss the playoffs for a fifth straight year.
Potvin was relegated to backup duty in Toronto after the Maple Leafs signed Curtis Joseph. He eventually left the team and was later traded to the Islanders, where he has struggled, posting a 5-8-1 record while battling a groin injury.
"It was fun to be part of the win," said Potvin, whose 55 saves tied an Islander record. "It was pretty satisfying. It was good. I sure tested the groin tonight. It was fine all night."
There was much speculation that Potvin, traded for Bryan Berard in what seemed a one-sided deal until Monday night, would not play again after re-injuring his groin a second time But he always felt he would return late in the season.
"I wanted to play three to five games," said Potvin, who opened by stopping Patrik Elias on a semi breakaway. "This was definitely a bonus to win a game like that."
Losing deprived the Devils of a chance to tie Ottawa for the best record in the Eastern Conference. The Senators were beaten by Florida 2-0 on Monday.
"We can't look at it like that," said Devils defenseman Ken Daneyko. "We just have to continue to build, shore up the little things that ent wrong, so we're on top of our game for the playoffs."
Vladimir Orsagh, Mats Lindgren, Mike Watt and Claude Lapointe scored for the Islanders, while Brian Rolston and Jason Arnott were the only Devils to beat Potvin. Rolston's power-play goal was somewhat tainted because it was actually deflected past Potvin by Watt.
The Devils had a least two-dozen good scoring chances only to be stopped by Potvin's spectacular play. New Jersey's old record for shots in a game was 54, accomplished three times the last time Oct. 30, 1996 in a 6-1 loss to the New York Rangers.
"We were firing the puck tonight and he was up to the challenge," Rolston said.
Despite being outshot 19-11 in the first period, Orsagh and Lindgren staked the Islanders to a 2-0 lead.
Orsagh, recalled from Lowell of the AHL a couple of weeks ago, scored for New York at 12:17 with his first NHL goal. He took a pass in center ice from Dmitri Nabokov, skated into the Devils' zone and beat Brodeur with a shot from above the left circle that might have been deflected by New Jersey defenseman Scott Stevens.
Lindgren got the second goal on a power play with five seconds left in the period. It came on a shot from the right point on which Brodeur was screened by Mark Lawrence.
Rolston's 22nd goal narrowed the gap to 2-1 at 5:04 of the second period.
Watt made it 3-1, converting a great pass from Nabokov on an odd-man rush at 8:09 of the third period. But Arnott made it a one-goal game again a little more than a minute later, putting in a rebound for his 27th goal.
Lapointe clinched the game on a breakaway with 2:19 to play.
The most shots given up by the Islanders in a game is 60 on Mar. 31, 1973, against Philadelphia.
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