Yann Danis is taking advantage of his starts in goal for New York Islanders as they play out another lost season.
Danis made 29 saves, and the Islanders snapped a three-game losing streak with a 3-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday night.
"You go through stretches where the puck doesn't hit you," Danis said. "It happens to all goalies, so I just have to battle through it."
Coach Scott Gordon was pleased with Danis' play.
"It definitely was a bounce back game for him," Gordon said. "He felt pretty good."
Richard Park, Radek Martinek and Josh Bailey scored for the Islanders, who took three of four meetings this season against Tampa Bay. Jesse Joensuu and Bruno Gervais each had a pair of assists.
Matt Pettinger had the only goal for the Lightning, losers of six straight (0-4-2).
Mike McKenna made 18 saves for Tampa Bay.
The Islanders scored 23 seconds after the opening faceoff. From the left side, Park spun around and sent a quick wrist shot past McKenna for his 14th goal of the season.
"I went down in a butterfly," McKenna said. "It was just a technical error on my part."
Tampa Bay came out firing pucks at Danis to start the second period, but he turned everything aside. Later in the period, the Islanders capitalized on a power play to take a 2-0 lead.
Off a faceoff, Martinek wound up with the puck at the right point. He moved to the top of the right circle and blasted a shot over McKenna's glove-side shoulder at 14:52.
Pettinger got the Lightning on the board with a power-play goal at 16:36.
The Islanders gave themselves a bit of breathing room with another power-play goal, this time with Bailey connecting off a beautiful feed from Blake Comeau at 9:14 of the final period.
"It was a play we worked on a lot," Bailey said. "It was a nice goal to get."
The Lightning have not given up, even with their record and all the bodies missing because of injuries.
"For me personally, it's the last year of my contract, so it's make or break time for me," McKenna said. "We at least show heart and courage out there. We play hard."
Notes
The Islanders recalled five players from Bridgeport on an emergency basis: forwards Mitch Fritz, Mike Iggulden, Jesse Joensuu and Joel Rechlicz, and defenseman Jamie Fraser. Fraser made his NHL debut. ... Tampa Bay recalled defenseman Vladimir Mihalik from Norfolk.
