Penalty Shot Lifts Islanders

Shawn Bates was facing his first NHL penalty shot and most of his teammates stayed far away.

“You want to leave a guy with his mind,” Alexei Yashin said.

But captain Michael Peca wasn’t shy. He grabbed Bates and told him exactly what to look for against Toronto goalie Curtis Joseph.

It worked, as Bates scored with 2:30 left in regulation Wednesday night, giving New York a 4-3 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs and tying the Islanders’ first playoff series in eight years.

“I got good advice,” Bates said with a smile.

The Islanders came from behind in the third period to send the series back to Toronto on Friday night tied, 2-2.

Game 6 is in Nassau Coliseum on Sunday.

“Hopefully, we can sneak one out Friday and close it out at home,” Bates said.

The Maple Leafs played without Mats Sundin, their captain and leading scorer. The team would not divulge Sundin’s injury, though Coach Pat Quinn said it was to the “upper body.”

Bryan McCabe, a former Islander, dragged down Bates from behind to give New York the penalty shot. After the whistle, Peca put himself eye-to-eye with Bates and told him that Joseph is not fooled by dekes.

“I had experience,” Peca said. “I told him I didn’t want to tell him what to do, I just wanted to tell him what to look for.”

Regardless, Bates felt sick to his stomach--”nerves,” he said.

But after racing down ice, Bates quickly lifted the puck high past Joseph’s blocker.

“I can’t explain how I felt with words,” said Bates, who got on one knee and pumped his fist after scoring. “I’m pretty wired right now.”

The goal capped a wild final seven minutes that saw New York tie the score, take the lead, lose the lead and win it.

Ottawa 3, Philadelphia 0--Patrick Lalime matched an NHL record at Ottawa, Canada, with his third straight shutout.

The win gave Ottawa a 3-1 lead in the Eastern Conference best-of-seven quarterfinal. Game 5 is in Philadelphia on Friday night.

The Flyers are 0 for 11 in previous playoff series when they fall behind three games to one.

His 28-save performance gave Lalime a share of the NHL playoff record for most consecutive shutouts with Brent Johnson of St. Louis, who did it Tuesday night; Clint Benedict of the Montreal Maroons in 1926; John Ross Roach of the New York Rangers in 1929; and Frank McCool of the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1945.

It was Ottawa’s third consecutive 3-0 shutout. The only shot to beat Lalime came in Game 1 when the Flyers scored in overtime. The NHL record for longest postseason shutout sequence is 248 minutes 32 seconds set by Detroit’s Normie Smith in 1936.

Wade Redden, Sami Salo and Marian Hossa scored for Ottawa and Shawn McEachern had two assists.

Carolina 3, New Jersey 2--Kevin Weekes, playing for slumping starter Arturs Irbe, stopped 40 shots, and Josef Vasicek scored the winner 8:16 into overtime at Raleigh, N.C.

The win by the Hurricanes gave them a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference quarterfinals.

The Devils led, 2-1, after Patrik Elias scored a power-play goal with 8:14 left and the Hurricanes took another penalty three minutes later.

But Bobby Holik, who has been New Jersey’s best player, was called for boarding with 1:50 left. Jeff O’Neill broke out of his scoring slump by pounding one past Martin Brodeur 21 seconds into the power play.

San Jose 2, Phoenix 1--The Sharks wanted more punch on the power play, and they got it.

Mike Rathje broke an 0-for-20 string with San Jose’s first power-play goal since Game 1, and the Sharks held on for a victory at Phoenix.

That pushed the Coyotes to the brink of their 10th consecutive first-round playoff elimination since 1987.

Mike Ricci got the winner, giving the Sharks a 2-0 lead. Radoslav Suchy scored the only goal on Evgeni Nabokov, who continued his mastery of Phoenix for his third win in the series.

The previous season’s rookie of the year, who had 35 saves in Game 3, stopped 29 shots.