Saturday March 31

With 10 contests being battle Saturday the return from Former Islanders was modest, at best. In those games FIs accounted for 2 goals, 4 assists and a loss in net. Here is the happenings:

• Zdeno Chara received a powerplay assist on Boston's first goal of the night in the Bruins' 3-2 home loss to the Atlanta Thrashers. The point lifted him to 42 on the season and leaves him only 1 behind his career high. Chara has cooled off recently with only 2 points in his last 8 games. Alexei Zhitnik, for the second straight game, assisted on the game winner. Unlike his prior OT assist Saturday night's point came with only 19 seconds left in regulation. Zhitnik's impact has been well apparent as he has tallied 14 points in only 15 games with the Thrashers. That is 2 points more than fellow deadline acquisition Keith Tkachuk.
• Bryan McCabe scored Toronto's 4th goal in their 5-4 OT squeaker over the visiting Pittsburgh Penguins. His 13th of the year and 9th on the powerplay, McCabe now has 54 points on the season. In total, 32 of his points have came with the man advantage.
• Martin Straka had the game winning goal and a powerplay assist on the insurance goal in the New York Rangers' 6-4 win over host Philadelphia on Saturday. The goal was Straka's 28th of the season and 6th game winner. The assist was his 40th of the year and 20th on the powerplay. Despite his recent cold play Straka has had 3 points in his last 2 games since ending a 12 game pointless streak and now has 68 points in 73 games this season. The multi-point night was Straka's first since February 10.
• Janne Niinimaa assisted on Montreal's second goal in their 4-3 home win over the Eastern Conference leading Buffalo Sabres. The assist was only Niinimaa's 3rd point of the year (all assists) in 39 games ending a 17 game pointless drought. Since the lockout, Niinimaa, a 3 time 40+ point scorer, has only 19 points in 102 games.
• Roberto Luongo was saddled with a loss in Calgary's 3-2 victory over host Vancouver on Saturday. Stopping only 15 of 18 shots he faced Luongo had one of his worst nights in recent memory. In 72 games started Luongo's record in now 45-21-6. Following Martin Brodeur's win on Friday, Luongo is tied for the league lead in wins.

With the start of April comes 6 more games on Sunday. Keep posted to FIW for your all your exciting playoff rush action. Until the next time.