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BOX SCORE
SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) -- Claude Lapointe got his penalty shot past
goalie Mike Vernon, it just wasn't good enough to get the New York
Islanders a tie.
|  | | New York's Eric Cairns puts the squeeze on Florida's Mark Parrish, left. |
Lapointe shot wide on a penalty shot with 21 seconds left
Wednesday night and the Florida Panthers held on to a 4-3 victory over the New York Islanders.
"The frustrating part is that I had him beat. I put a pretty
good move on him," Lapointe said. "I think everyone in the building knew that I had him beat, but it wasn't good enough. He played it well -- perfectly well."
Pavel Bure scored his 29th goal as the Panthers continued their
solid play on home ice.
The victory wasn't secured until Vernon, Florida's
newly acquired goalie, got Lapointe to miss. The penalty shot was awarded after the Islanders' center was pulled down by Jaroslav Spacek on a breakaway.
In the one-on-one battle, Lapointe put a backhander through
Vernon's legs and just wide of the net.
"On any penalty shot, I let the other guy make the first move
and I react to it," Vernon said. "I don't think you can guess,
because when you do that you're going to look quite foolish in that situation."
It was the second straight game the Islanders were given a penalty shot. Brad Isbister scored Monday in New York's 2-2 tie with Phoenix.
Bure's power-play goal turned out to be the game-winner for the Panthers, who improved to 14-3-2 at home. Bure, selected Wednesday along with his brother Valeri of the Calgary Flames to the World All-Star team, has eight goals in five games.
"Maybe we didn't play the way we should tonight, but we still picked up two points and we will take it," Bure said.
New York, which has a league-worst 26 points, is 1-6-1 in its last eight games.
"This was an unbelievable game. It would have been nice to get that goal at the end," Islanders coach Butch Goring said. "We played well enough to earn something other than their respect.
"We made a couple of mistakes, but other than that it was a
good game for us, and we certainly had enough opportunities to score."
Vernon, acquired by the Panthers in a trade with San Jose on Dec. 30, won his 356th career game, seventh-best on the NHL career list.
"He has been an MVP goalie," Bure said. "He stopped that shot
with 20 seconds left, and as far as I'm concerned, won the game."
Bure's goal gave the Panthers a 4-2 lead with 4:52 left in the second period.
The Islanders closed within 4-3 on Dave Scatchard's fourth goal
less than two minutes later.
The Panthers led 2-1 after one period behind goals from Robert
Svehla and flu-stricken Scott Mellanby.
Svehla scored from the slot, tying the game at 1-1. New York's Eric Cairns tried to clear the puck from behind the net, but Svehla
picked it off and beat goalie Kevin Weekes.
Mellanby, who has battled the flu since the weekend, put Florida
ahead with 1:03 left. Mellanby twice rebounded his own miss before scoring his 10th goal.
The Islanders took a 1-0 lead at 2:23 on Isbister's 14th goal. Olli Jokinen started the play, shuffling a pass across the slot to Isbister, who scored on a wrist shot against Vernon.
New York tied the game on Mats Lindgren's eighth goal, a
backhander at 6:40 of the second.
Cam Stewart put Florida ahead 3-2 at 10:25 of the second,
gathering a pass from Ryan Johnson and scoring on a wrist shot from
the left slot.
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ALSO SEE
NHL Scoreboard
NY Islanders Clubhouse
Florida Clubhouse
Bure brothers give World All-Stars plenty in reserve
RECAPS
Washington 5
Atlanta 2
Florida 4
NY Islanders 3
Chicago 3
Vancouver 2
Calgary 2
Dallas 1
Phoenix 3
Pittsburgh 1
Ottawa 2
Anaheim 0
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Mike Vernon "denies" the penalty shot by Claude Lapointe.
avi: 791 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
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