Islanders Finally Give Milbury His First Win

The New York Islanders finally won one for Mike Milbury.

Milbury gained his first coaching victory since taking over for the fired Rick Bowness as New York beat the Edmonton Oilers, 3-1, Sunday night at Edmonton.

Trevor Linden pulled the Islanders out of a six-game winless slump when he scored twice late in the third period.

“For this team right now it feels good to win,” said Linden, the team captain. “When Mike took over, we went through a bit of a tough spell, but it’s nice to get in the win column for sure.”

Linden, the former Vancouver Canucks’ captain dealt to the Islanders before the Olympic break, broke a 1-1 tie with 7:18 left in the third period as he put Tom Chorske’s rebound past Curtis Joseph.

He scored his 12th goal of the season with 3:39 remaining, ripping a pass behind Joseph for the Islanders’ second power-play goal.

Zigmund Palffy’s power-play goal during a two-man advantage gave the Islanders a 1-0 lead 2:54 into the game.

Tony Hrkac scored for Edmonton.

Phoenix 3, San Jose 1--Rick Tocchet and Cliff Ronning each had a goal and an assist as the Coyotes defeated the Sharks at Phoenix and gained some room in the Western Conference playoff race.

Mike Gartner also scored for the Coyotes, who ended a three-game losing streak to move two points ahead of Edmonton into seventh place in the conference standings.

Owen Nolan scored the Sharks’ lone goal.

Philadelphia 5, N.Y. Rangers 4--Shjon Podein scored a power-play goal with 20.1 seconds left in overtime as the Flyers rebounded from their first loss under Coach Roger Neilson with the victory at home.

Podein took a pass in the corner, skated in front of the net and punched it in as the Ranger defenders tried to push him out.

The goal capped a wild final seven minutes during which Philadelphia took a one-goal lead, then gave up a late goal to Wayne Gretzky before the game-winner.

Calgary 5, St. Louis 3--Jarome Iginla scored his first goal in more than two months and added an assist to lead the Flames over the Blues at Calgary.

Chicago 1, Boston 0--Jeff Hackett stopped 26 shots for his second consecutive shutout--and eighth of the season--as the Blackhawks overcame the Bruins at Chicago.

Defenseman Cam Russell’s first goal of the season, at 3:06 of the first period, helped the Blackhawks post their fourth victory in a row.

Dallas 0, Pittsburgh 0--Penguin goalie Tom Barrasso made 28 saves for his seventh shutout while Ed Belfour needed 20 stops for his ninth shutout, extending the Stars’ single-season record, as the teams played the sixth scoreless tie in the league this season, at Dallas.