York: It’s good to be home
LAST NIGHT IN THE NHL Michigan native nets winner as Isles beat Wings N. Y. claims first win over Detroit since February ’99
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 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.
“ Bottom like is, 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.”
DiPietro, who hadn’t played in nine days, said his teammates also helped him out. “ We blocked a lot of shots,” he said.
Just under three minutes be- fore York’s goal, Detroit goalie Jim Howard stopped Blake on a breakaway from off the right wing. Howard made 26 saves. Only a great stop by Howard early in the second period kept the Islanders from taking the lead earlier. With New York on a power play after a slashing penalty to Kirk Maltby, Howard dove across the crease to knock away Miroslav Satan’s shot with his blocker. The drive came from the bottom of the left circle and was headed for the open side of the net 4: 32 into the period.
Detroit took a 1- 0 lead on a Schneider slapshot from the high slot at 4: 21. New York tied it with 1: 45 left in the first period when Yashin’s shot from the corner went in off of Howard. The Islanders (13-12-1) improved to 8- 7 on the road. New York has won five of six away from Long Island but has dropped three straight at home in between.