New York Local News

by Ducis Rodgers
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) ― Martin Brodeur has made winning a habit more so than any other goalie in NHL history.

Brodeur made 26 saves to lead the New Jersey Devils to a 2-1 victory over the New York Rangers on Saturday night, becoming the first goalie to win 30 games for 10 straight seasons. He is the only goalie to have more than eight straight 30-win seasons.

"It's one of the things I like most about the records that I'm doing," he said. "One thing I wanted to be in my career is consistent. That's one thing Patrick Roy was able to do throughout his career and I tried to go the same way. It means you've been healthy and successful."

His teammates have come to appreciate, and depend on that consistency.

"We're going to look back and say he was something special," said Scott Gomez, who scored the Devils' first goal. "It's a lot of wins, but he's the best there is. This guy might go down as the best ever."

Brian Gionta also scored for the Devils, who snapped the Rangers' seven-game winning streak

Martin Rucinsky scored the only goal for New York, which had won six straight on the road.

Isles Honor '80 Team, Beat Flyers

Chris Campoli found his name in the spotlight on a night where past New York Islanders greats were honored.

Campoli's power-play goal through traffic with 8:39 left was the winner as the Islanders defeated the Philadelphia Flyers 4-2 on Saturday night.

The Islanders held a pregame ceremony honoring the first Stanley Cup winning team of 1980. The biggest hands were for Bryan Trottier, Mike Bossy, Billy Smith and Denis Potvin, who carried the Cup on the ice.

"It feels great," Campoli said. "Finally, we have some things coming together, and this was certainly one of the most physical games we've played all year."

With New York on a two-man advantage, Campoli's right-point shot sailed past Islanders forward Trent Hunter -- who was originally credited with the goal -- Philadelphia defenseman Derian Hatcher, and goalie Antero Niittymaki to give the Islanders their second straight win.

"The game is on the line, and we took two poor penalties in the third period," Flyers coach Ken Hitchcock said. "We competed at a high level, we just got beat."

Hunter made it 4-2 with an empty-net goal with 2.5 seconds left.

U.S. Olympians Mark Parrish and Jason Blake each registered their 23rd goals of the season for New York, while American goalie Rick DiPietro stopped 19 shots for his 21st win.

Francis Powers Knicks To Rare Road Win

Steve Francis made five free throws in the final 20 seconds of his first win with New York, Eddy Curry had 20 points and 11 rebounds, and the Knicks snapped a six-game losing streak with a 103-98 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks on Saturday night.

Jalen Rose had 19 points and Quentin Richardson 18 in the Knicks' rare road win that kept the Bucks, currently in eighth place in the Eastern Conference, from matching last season's win total of 30 games when they finished 30-52.

The Knicks won for only the third time in 25 games and picked up their fifth road win of the season.

Michael Redd had 23 points, Joe Smith added 19 and Maurice Williams 17 for the Bucks, who have lost three straight at the Bradley Center after a season-high six-game home win streak.

The Knicks had lost 12 straight road games, but played well down the stretch for the victory.

Vintage Kidd Pushes Nets Past Raptors In OT

Jason Kidd had his fifth triple-double of the season, but his biggest contribution might have come during a fourth quarter timeout.

Kidd suggested to Nets coach Lawrence Frank that he put 6-foot-7 Richard Jefferson on Toronto center Chris Bosh, who had been practically unstoppable since the beginning of the third quarter.

The move worked wonders as Jefferson clamped down on Bosh and the Nets held Toronto to one field goal in more than 10 minutes spanning regulation and overtime in a 105-100 win on Saturday.

"He came up with the idea to go small," said Jefferson, who scored 30 points to go with 31 by Vince Carter. "Bosh posts up, but he likes to shoot jumpers, and we were able to take that away from him. You need to crowd and use your quickness on him."

New Jersey (32-26) snapped a three-game losing streak and improved to 15-2 in its last 17 home games dating back to mid-December. Toronto (20-38) lost its sixth straight game.

Men's Basketball
Burtt's 25 Lead Iona To MAAC Semis

Steve Burtt scored 25 points to lead Iona to an 80-54 win over Niagara in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference quarterfinals Saturday.

Kiril Wachsmann scored 20 and had 13 rebounds for the Gaels (21-7). Besides ending the Purple Eagles' chances of defending their conference title, Iona also knocked off the team that had eliminated it in the last four tournaments.

The Gaels advance to the semifinals for the second straight year -- and the 15th time in the tournament's 25-year history -- to face the winner of the Marist-Canisius game scheduled later in the evening.

Baseball
Reds Top Yanks In Johnson's First Outing

Edwin Encarnacion got Randy Johnson's attention.

"Who is that kid?" the Big Unit said after allowing a two-run homer and an RBI double to Encarnacion in the Cincinnati Reds' 4-1 win over the New York Yankees on Saturday.

Encarnacion, a 23-year-old third baseman, homered twice Friday against Minnesota.

"I knew who Juan Encarnacion was -- the guy who played with Cincinnati and with Florida," Johnson said jovially. "Maybe that's his brother or cousin or something like that. A pretty good hitter, though."

Pitching his first spring training game of the year, Johnson threw 48 pitches over three innings with a pair of strikeouts. He allowed three hits, two to Encarnacion, who is not related to Juan.

"We all know he's got a chance to be a very good major league player," Reds manager Jerry Narron said. "I'm happy for him to get off to a good start."

New York played its first game at Legends Field since Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, Johnny Damon and Bernie Williams left Thursday for the World Baseball Classic. A sign by the customer service booth on the main concourse apologized to fans.

Heilman Looks Strong In Mets' Win

The New York Mets' rotation received a boost Saturday when Aaron Heilman pitched two scoreless innings in a 5-4 win over a Washington Nationals split squad and ace Pedro Martinez threw a solid bullpen session.

Heilman pitched mostly in relief last year and was extremely effective after the All-Star break. Now vying for the fifth spot in the rotation, he struck out two in the first inning and worked out of trouble in the second.

"I threw all my pitches that were ready today," Heilman said. "The split's always the last pitch to come around for me. My fastball command was good, and that's key for me."

Jose Valentin drove in a pair of runs for the Mets, Cliff Floyd went 2-for-3 with an RBI and Anderson Hernandez was 3-for-4 with a stolen base and three runs scored.

(© 2006 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)