NEW YORK, 12 April 2004 — Jason Blake scored twice and Rick DiPietro made 22 saves for the shutout as the New York Islanders upset the Tampa Bay Lightning 3-0 in the playoffs on Saturday.

The New York win tied the best-of-seven Eastern Conference opening-round encounter 1-1, with the series now headed back to Uniondale for the next two games.

The eighth-seeded Islanders dominated the Lightning in the regular season, winning three of the four games between the two teams, but lost Game One of the series 3-0.

On Saturday the Islanders reversed that score thanks to several big saves from DiPietro.

Jane Niinimaa opened the scoring for the Islanders with a power play goal at 11:42 of the opening period, putting the Islanders on the scoreboard for the first time in the series against Nikolai Khabibulin.

Mathieu Schneider’s power-play goal with 2:45 to play in regulation time gave the hosts Detroit Red Wings a 2-1 triumph over the Nashville Predators.

The win gives Detroit a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven Western Conference series, which now heads to Nashville for games three and four. Robert Lang scored the other Detroit goal while Brendan Shanahan added a pair of assists.

In San Jose, Patrick Marleau hit three goals, one in each period, to help the Sharks to a 3-1 victory over the St. Louis Blues. San Jose lead the best-of-seven series 2-0, which now goes to St. Louis for games three and four. Evgeni Nabokov made 25 saves in goal for the Sharks.

In Toronto, Ed Belfour made 31 saves and Gary Roberts grabbed two goals to lead the Maple Leafs to a 2-0 win over the Ottawa Senators. Belfour made several big saves, especially in the second period when the Senators out-shot the Leafs 10-6, and early in the third when Ottawa had a brief five-on-three advantage. Ottawa out-shot the Maple Leafs 31-26 as Patrick Lalime made 24 saves for the Senators.

In Philadelphia, Alexei Zhamnov picked up a goal and an assist to steer the Flyers to a 3-2 victory over the New Jersey Devils.

The Flyers hold a 2-0 advantage in the Eastern Conference series, with the next two games in East Rutherford.

Mark Recchi and Mattias Timander also netted for the Flyers. Jan Hrdina and Brian Gionta replied for the Devils.