Islanders end 6-year drought in Detroit

NHL DETROIT — Mike York had quite a homecoming.

York, from the Detroit suburb of Waterford and a former Michigan State University player, scored the tiebreaking goal with 3:57 remaining Sunday to lift the New York Islanders to a 2- 1 victory over the Detroit Red Wings.

York slammed in the rebound of Jason Blake’s shot from the bottom of the left circle for the winning goal. Alexei Yashin also scored for New York, which got 35 saves from Rick DiPietro, several in spectacular fashion.

“ I grew up watching Detroit and watching some of the players on their team. I had a lot of family members and friends in the stands,” York said. “It’s just great to score a goal and great to win.”

York has struggled this season. It was only his fourth goal and 13th point with the Islanders, who acquired him from Edmonton in the trade that sent former captain Michael Peca to the Oilers.

“I think Michael will tell you he’d like to have more goals and more production,” New York coach Steve Stirling said of York. “Maybe that will get him going. Getting an ugly goal by going to the net and then getting knocked on his butt.”

It was also the Islanders’ first win over Detroit in more than six years, dating to Feb. 27, 1999.

“We didn’t dwell on the past,” Stirling said. “We talked about what we thought we could do to beat a good team.”

Mathieu Schneider scored for the Red Wings, who have lost two straight — both at home.

“ I thought most of the night we did a good job. At times I thought we played into their hands and turned the puck over at centre ice,” Schneider said. “We had a lot of shots on net, we had a lot of opportunities. We just didn’t bury them and that was the difference.”

Detroit coach Mike Babcock agreed.

“ Bo tto m l i ke i s , Sammy [ Mikael Samuelsson] missed a wide open net,” he said. “Drapes [ Kris Draper] missed a wide open net in the game, Malts [ Kirk Maltby] missed a wide open net in the game.” Associated Press