Panthers Survive Penalty Shot

Claude Lapointe got his penalty shot past goalie Mike Vernon, it just wasn’t good enough to get the New York Islanders a tie.

Lapointe shot wide on a penalty shot with 21 seconds left Wednesday night and the Florida Panthers held on to a 4-3 victory over the New York Islanders at Sunrise, Fla.

“The frustrating part is that I had him beat. I put a pretty good move on him,” Lapointe said.

The shot was awarded after Lapointe was pulled down by Jaroslav Spacek on a breakaway.

Pavel Bure scored his 29th goal for the Panthers.

Chicago 3, Vancouver 2--Sylvain Cote scored a power-play goal with 1:44 left in overtime to lift the Blackhawks at Chicago.

Alex Zhamnov and Eric Daze also scored for Chicago, which has won three straight at home.

Calgary 2, Dallas 1--Jason Wiemer scored 2:03 into overtime at Calgary, Canada, giving the Flames their league-leading eighth overtime victory.

Calgary improved to 8-1-5 in overtime.

Dallas lost captain Mike Modano because of an undetermined injury when Wiemer drove him hard into the boards with 9:09 left. Modano had to be helped off the ice and did not return.

Phoenix 3, Pittsburgh 1--Shane Doan broke up goalie Jean-Sebastien Aubin’s shutout bid in the second period in the Coyotes’ victory at Phoenix.

Sean Burke improved to 3-1-1 with the Coyotes, who acquired him in a trade with Florida in November. He stopped 26 shots and weathered eight Pittsburgh power plays for the win, but lost his shutout when NHL scoring leader Jaromir Jagr scored his 33rd goal 8:10 into the third period.

Washington 5, Atlanta 2--Jan Bulis scored the go-ahead goal late in the first period as the Capitals won at Atlanta.

Washington goalie Olaf Kolzig faced only 16 shots in earning the victory.

Around the League

The joint venture between the New York Yankees and New Jersey Nets is nearing a deal to buy the New Jersey Devils, The Star-Ledger of Newark reported. YankeeNets will pay Devil owner John McMullen at least $175 million, the newspaper reported. . . . Brothers Pavel Bure of Florida and Valeri Bure of Calgary head the list of players added to the World team for the Feb. 6 NHL All-Star game at Toronto. The will become the first brothers to appear as teammates in the All-Star game since 1983, when Peter and Marian Stastny played for the Wales Conference. Colorado will have three World team players, the most of any club, as forwards Peter Forsberg and Milan Hejduk will join starting defenseman Sandis Ozolinsh. . . . Atlanta Thrasher defenseman David Harlock underwent surgery for a bad disk in his neck and probably will miss the rest of the season. . . . New York Islander defenseman Zdeno Chara will be sidelined four weeks by a left shoulder injury, suffered on a hard check in Monday’s tie with Phoenix.