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SportsJanuary 17, 2003

ST. LOUIS -- A shutout loss 24 hours earlier didn't keep the New York Islanders down for long. Oleg Kvasha scored on a backhander with 3:01 to go in overtime as the Islanders refused to fold after blowing a two-goal lead, beating the Blues 3-2 Thursday night...

By R.B. Fallstrom, The Associated Press

ST. LOUIS -- A shutout loss 24 hours earlier didn't keep the New York Islanders down for long.

Oleg Kvasha scored on a backhander with 3:01 to go in overtime as the Islanders refused to fold after blowing a two-goal lead, beating the Blues 3-2 Thursday night.

"That's the great thing about sports," right wing Mark Parrish said. "You usually get another chance to get right back at it."

Besides losing 5-0 at New Jersey on Wednesday, the Islanders had lost twice in overtime in their previous four games. Kvasha broke in on Brent Johnson on the winner, converting New York's only shot of the extra period for his fifth goal and second in three games.

"He's been playing great," linemate Alexei Yashin said. "He had so many shots tonight, it was nice to see him get one in goal."

Pavol Demitra forced overtime when he scored with 3:51 to go in regulation off a goalie-freezing setup from Al MacInnis as the Blues salvaged a point.

Cory Stillman also scored for the Blues, who struggled most of the night after returning from a 3-1-0-1 road trip. St. Louis had a 12-4 shots advantage in the third period.

Yashin and Kenny Jonsson also scored for the Islanders against Johnson, who had 22 saves.

"It certainly wasn't one of our better starts," MacInnis said. "They took it to us pretty good in the first period. But I thought we had a better second period and (Johnson) gave us a great chance to get back into it."

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Yashin and Kenny Jonsson also scored for the Islanders as the Blues fell to 9-1-1-2 against Eastern Conference opponents.

Yashin gave the Islanders the early lead at 5:47 of the first period with his first goal in six games, tapping in the rebound of a shot from the point by Mattias Weinhandl.

Jonsson made it 2-0 on a two-man advantage at 7:01 of the second period. The puck went in off his right skate, but it was ruled that he did not redirect it.

The Blues cut the deficit to a goal when Stillman scored his team-leading 17th goal from the right point during a power play at 12:39 of the second period against Garth Snow. Keith Tkachuk short-circuited two St. Louis power plays in the period when he was whistled for holding and roughing penalties.

Tkachuk was whistled for four minors in all, then drew a gross misconduct after getting a slashing call in overtime for a total of 18 penalty minutes. He ripped Craig Spada, one of the two referees, while sparing Don VanMassenhoven from criticism.

"He should think about resigning because he'll definitely get fired," Tkachuk said. "It's atrocious. I've seen a lot and I've been around a long time and this guy comes stepping in and just calls dives and terrible calls. It's a joke."

Tkachuk wasn't the only St. Louis player criticizing the officiating.

"Tonight they seemed to call everything, and sometimes they have a tendency to forget it's a hockey game out there and it's a contact sport and there's going to be some bumping and fighting for the puck," MacInnis said.

"Some of these referees, I think they're so scared they think they have to call everything to call a good game."

Notes: Blues F Shjon Podein missed the game after the birth of a daughter. ... Islanders C Claude Lapointe played in his 800th career game for the Islanders. Lapointe was stopped on a break-in early in the third period, and flubbed a breakaway at around the 13-minute mark of the third. ... The teams completed their season series. The Blues won 6-1 Nov. 2 in St. Louis. ... MacInnis had 11 shots on goal.

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