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UNIONDALE, N.Y. -- Kevin Poulins sigh of relief and wide smile summarized the game for the New York Islanders after they stymied the Nashville Predators to end a four-game skid. Poulin made 32 saves to back the scoring of John Tavares, Pierre-Marc Bouchard and Kyle Okposo as the Islanders stopped the Predators 3-1 Tuesday night after their disappointing trip. The 23-year-old Poulin, who has played well in a backup role to starter Evgeni Nabokov, was sharp throughout as the Islanders improved to 7-9-3. "I felt really good from the beginning," said Poulin, who won for the second time in six games this season. "I was seeing the pucks well all night and was glad to see us play a strong game as a team." Predators right wing Patric Hornqvist ruined Poulins shutout bid with his fifth goal of the season with 5:30 remaining. Nashville (8-8-2) was playing the sixth game of a seven-stop road trip. The Predators lost 5-0 at both Winnipeg and New Jersey before visiting the Islanders. They conclude their journey at Pittsburgh on Friday. "We were slow to the puck all night and they did a better job winning the 1-on-1 battles," Predators coach Barry Trotz said. "Were going through a tough time. We have to tighten up and put together better efforts." Tavares opened the scoring with 4:30 left in the first period with a power-play goal, his eighth of the season. Tavares was alone in the slot when he took a pass from Frans Nielsen from along the left boards as Nashvilles David Legwand served an elbowing penalty. Tavares settled the puck before firing it past Predators goaltender Marek Mazanec, who was making his first NHL start. The 22-year-old Czech netminder was recalled from Milwaukee of the AHL last week to back up Carter Hutton, already the backup to starter Pekka Rinne who is out with a lingering hip infection. Bouchard scored his fourth of the season with 2:37 remaining in the first, also with an assist from Nielsen. Okposo increased the lead to 3-0 at 7:07 of the second, rifling a slap shot from the left circle past Mazanec for his sixth of the year. The Islanders collectively lifted their game as they were missing high-scoring left wing Thomas Vanek for the second straight contest. New York acquired Vanek on Oct. 27 from Buffalo for popular winger Matt Moulson. Vanek suffered an upper body injury early in last Saturdays loss at Columbus. "I like that we got our speed going and put together a solid team effort tonight," said Tavares, who assisted on Okposos goal and leads the Islanders with 22 points. "It was important that we came home and played a strong game like this. Hopefully we can build on it." New York beat Boston 3-1 in their previous home game on Nov. 2 -- when Vanek scored his first goal with the Islanders -- then lost at Washington, Carolina, Columbus and Montreal. The Islanders have had little success against the Predators through the years. The victory was New Yorks first against Nashville in regulation since April 2002 and their first win at Nassau Coliseum over the Predators since a 2-1 triumph way back on Nov. 7, 2000. Nashville had been 8-0-2 in their last 10 meetings with the Islanders, including a 3-2 home win on Oct. 12. "We played a solid game start to finish," Islanders coach Jack Capuano said. "We were disciplined and our goaltender played very well. This was a total team effort." The Islanders host Los Angeles on Thursday before welcoming the Detroit Red Wings to Long Island on Saturday to complete the homestand. NOTES: The Islanders continued to be without D Lubomir Visnovsky (concussion) and D Brian Strait (upper body). ... The Islanders are 7-1-2 when they score at least three goals. ... Nashville scratched C Mike Fisher (lower body) plus LW Gabriel Bourque and D Mattias Ekholm. Kellen Winslow Jersey . -- Jerome Williams glanced at Philadelphias schedule and realized he would be facing the Oakland Athletics yet again, with another new team. Dan Fouts Jersey .com) - On the bright side, either the Minnesota Wild or Buffalo Sabres will end their losing streak on Thursday night. http://www.cheapchargersjerseysauthentic...vers-jersey.com Tours Nova Scotia Open. The 27-year-old Sloan, a former Texas-El Paso player from Calgary matched first-round leader Rodriguez at 10-under 132 on Ashburn Golf Clubs New Course. Jerry Tillery Jersey . -- Miami Dolphins defensive co-ordinator Kevin Coyle defended the management style of coach Joe Philbin in the wake of the teams bullying scandal. Junior Seau Jersey . Milan was held to 1-1 at home by Torino. Cagliari scored six minutes from halftime when Mauricio Pinilla blasted home from the penalty spot after Facundo Roncaglia tripped Marco Sau. The home side could have doubled its tally in stoppage time as first Fiorentina defender Stefan Savic almost scored an own goal then Albin Ekdals shot clipped the top of the upright.EL SEGUNDO, CALIF. – Darryl Sutter was at his sarcastic best on Sunday. "Yeah, Im not rattled," the Los Angeles Kings head coach said when asked about overcoming the Game 4 loss to Anaheim. "Im just thankful Im alive today. Im fortunate to pull through after the devastating loss last night." Sutter joked that he almost didnt make it to his daily media interrogation. "They had to get me up – Radar and Hawkeye had to get me up to come here today," said Sutter, referencing characters from the television show M*A*S*H. The point was clear: this is a veteran coach with a veteran team that isnt about to be fazed by losing two straight or by facing a hotshot young goalie. The Kings lost 20 games during the regular season when outshooting an opponent. Only the New York Rangers (22) and Calgary Flames (21) were ahead of them in that category. So what happened on Saturday night, when they outshot the Ducks 28-14 overall and 19-3 over the last two periods, but still came out on the short end of the scoreboard, is old hat and thus not worth losing too much sleep over. "Pretty nice out here today," said forward Jarret Stoll. "Sun came out. Its Mothers Day and my moms here so itll be a good off day." Meanwhile, about 30 miles down the road in Anaheim, John Gibson had already been named the Ducks starter for Game 5. Only hours earlier he had become the youngest goalie in NHL history to post a shutout in his playoff debut. It was only his fourth career NHL game. Hes stopped 111 of the 115 shots faced in those games (.965 save percentage). It has been a remarkable start to the 20-year-olds career. "I know hes calm and cool or whatever, but its our job to make his job a lot harder," said Kings forward Mike Richards. "Its a lot of pressure to put on a young kid [playing him in this series] and you can say it all you want, Hes calm, cool, but if we start getting bodies in front we dont know how hes going to react." Los Angeles had 25 shots blocked on Saturday and missed on 18 other attempts. "Most of the goalies in the league are pretty much the same," said defenceman Drew Doughty. "We have a little sheet that we [get] before the game and its pretty much the same things: whether he handles the puck well, hes usually not good in traffic like any goalie, not good with screens, tips, so thats exactly what we have to do. We have to get the ssecond opportunities and put them in.dddddddddddd We just got to bear down and get more goals. "It shouldnt matter whos in net." Thats basically the exact same message players on the Ducks were telling anyone who would listen after they dropped the first two games at home despite outshooting the Kings and controlling the lions share of possession. Now the shoe is very much on the other foot. "The playoffs, really, is about scoring big goals and we were doing that early in the series and winning games that way and theyre doing that now," Doughty said. "We want to have possession of the puck and take control of the game like we did in the last two periods last night, but we got to score big goals." Considering the Kings track record and championship pedigree they are far from flustered. After staring into the abyss of an 0-3 deficit in the last round against the San Jose Sharks they arent about to let a rookie goalie get in their heads. So there was no cram session on Sunday featuring video of Gibson. After all, Gibson isnt the issue. "I dont think weve played poorly," said Richards, "but we just havent gotten to that desperation level that we had in San Jose where youre just fighting for every inch on the ice, and I think thats that mentality that we have to get back to." The Kings will get a chance to up their intensity level on Monday night at the Honda Center when the series resumes. But Sunday was all about mothers. And Sutter had already placed a call to his mom before meeting with the media. "Yeah, I did," he acknowledged. "But she was in church. I shouldve known to call later. Thats the last thing I told the players. Make sure they talk to their moms or a mother in their life today." Stoll wont have to make a call. His mom, Sherri, is in town and he planned on spending the day with her. "She loved the cowbell," said Stoll, a Saskatchewan native, when asked about his favourite hockey-mom memory. "We had a group of parents who were the loudest group of parents who followed their sons around and my mom had the big cowbell that shed hammer on and Im sure it was pretty annoying for some people and you look up in t