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BOX SCORE
UNIONDALE, N.Y. (AP) -- It took some time for the Boston Bruins
to finally figure out Roberto Luongo.
|  | | Boston's Don Sweeney knocks New York's Brad Isbister, right, into the boards. |
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 toward 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.
"I will never point a finger at a goalie for giving up a bad
goal," Islanders defenseman Jamie Rivers said, "because the guy
who scores has to go through five other guys to get to the 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.
Vladimir Chebaturkin 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'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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ALSO SEE
NHL Scoreboard
Boston Clubhouse
NY Islanders Clubhouse
Brian's Barometer: Firing Burns a bad idea
RECAPS
Atlanta 5
Buffalo 4
Washington 6
Montreal 1
Ottawa 2
Carolina 1
Phoenix 5
Detroit 2
Boston 7
NY Islanders 3
Los Angeles 2
St. Louis 2
AUDIO/VIDEO
 PJ Axelsson scores the goal for Boston.
avi: 480 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
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