New York Sports

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) ― Petr Sykora tried to act as if it wasn't a big deal. Minnesota coach Todd Richards, however, saw a motivated player.

Two days after being banished to the press box as a healthy scratch, Sykora had a goal and to help Minnesota win for the first time in regulation this season, 3-2 over the New York Rangers on Friday night.

The game was originally billed as the return of Rangers star Marian Gaborik to Xcel Energy Center. That, however, was scrapped when Gaborik was injured this week.

It ended up being Sykora's redemption.

"I think Petr had something to prove," Richards said. "I thought his battles in the corners, his battles for loose pucks, those are the things that were talked about."

Sykora, who has scored 20 or more goals in each of the past 10 seasons, certainly got the Wild going. He scored the game's first goal, giving the Wild a 1-0 lead for only the fourth time in 13 games this season.

When asked about being benched against Nashville on Wednesday night, Sykora said simply, "Let's not talk about it." But he was certainly pleased with the outcome.

"I'm happy with what happened tonight," Sykora said. "I prepared the same way. I played a little hockey with my boy before the game, before I came to the rink. I got a couple two, three goals against him and it carried over to the game."

That is something the Wild (4-9-0), who entered the game 29th in the NHL in goals per game, certainly needs.

"Petr's a proven goal scorer, that's his game," said Minnesota's Eric Belanger, who also scored. "You don't like to see guys with that experience sitting in the stands. It's good, it's good to see him come back and get a goal and an assist. Hopefully he can keep going from here."

For a Minnesota team that entered the game having lost eight of its past 10, the victory -- the first this season in which the Wild never trailed -- was much needed. Minnesota, which also got a goal from Antti Miettinen and two assists from Mikko Koivu, led 3-1 after two periods.

While the Minnesota players were somewhat disappointed by their lack of aggression in the third period and the fact that the Rangers (8-5-1) cut the lead to 3-2 on Marc Staal's goal, Niklas Backstrom made six of his 18 saves over the final 20 minutes to pick up the victory.

In the end, however, the Wild players know they made progress for at least one night.

"We talked all day about trusting your teammates and believing in yourself," said Miettinen, who broke a 20-game scoreless streak. "The biggest thing has probably been our confidence. Today we tried to build that and I think we came out good."

For the Rangers, the loss extended a streak of poor play. After winning seven of eight games to start the season, New York is 1-4-1 in its last six games.

"We go back to work, there's no magic potion trying to get out of this here," Rangers coach John Tortorella said. "It's just a matter of trying to cut down on our mistakes, especially the turnovers in the neutral zone, and go back to work and find a way."

Dane Byers, playing in only his second NHL game, scored New York's first goal on a rebound.

Islanders 4, Capitals 3 (OT)

At Washington, the New York Islanders have quickly become experts at playing overtime. On Friday night, they became the first NHL team to play seven overtime games before Nov. 1. In their first six, they had just one win.

Thanks to Mark Streit's goal 53 seconds into the extra period, the Islanders had their second overtime win and their third overall victory -- 4-3 over the Washington Capitals.

It was the second straight win for New York. The Islanders also ended the Capitals' winning streak at six.

"We were right on the cusp of getting some wins," New York coach Scott Gordon said. "A lot of things have been coming together."

One of those things was Streit's goal. He beat Washington goalie Jose Theodore from about 10 feet for his second goal of the season and his first overtime goal.

"We kept it simple," Streit said. "We needed an outstanding goalie to still be in the game."

And Dwayne Roloson was outstanding. Washington lost despite dominating the action. The Capitals outshot the Islanders 40-30 and failed to convert numerous third-period scoring chances. Roloson turned away 17 shots in the third period.

"Without some of the saves he made, we wouldn't have been in position to get a point," Gordon said.

"Rollie stood on his head -- so it was a great evening," Streit said.



 

(© 2010 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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