St. Louis strikes late, defeats Islanders in OT

UNIONDALE, N.Y. -- The Blues were less than perfect guests as the Islanders began the Ryan Smyth era.

Lee Stempniak's power-play goal 25 seconds into overtime gave St. Louis a come-from-behind 3-2 victory over New York on Thursday night in Smyth's debut on Long Island.

Stempniak had an open shot from the left circle off a pass from Eric Brewer and beat Rick DiPietro to the far corner to give the Blues their sixth win in seven games (6-1-0).

"It's a really good win for us," Stempniak said. "Eric made a great fake and drew the goalie out, and slid it over to me. DiPietro had too much room to cover to get back in time."

The Islanders were cruising to a 2-0 victory with less than 3 minutes left in the game when Jay McClement and Petr Cajanek scored in a 38-second span to force overtime. Curtis Sanford picked up the win by stopping 25 shots.

Smyth, acquired from Edmonton on Tuesday, assisted on Mike Sillinger's first-period goal, and played a key role in Marc-Andre Bergeron's second-period score. After the goal was knocked off its moorings, Smyth used his skate to put it back in place just before Bergeron's shot deflected in.

"I was nervous and excited in the same breath," Smyth said. "I was waiting for the Canadian anthem to be played."

DiPietro stopped 36 shots, but took the penalty at the end of regulation that led to the overtime goal.