Wrapup
The Flyers' 4-3 victory tonight marked the team's 18th one-goal game of the season. Philly is now 9-9 in such games. Although the Flyers have now won seven consecutive games against the Islanders and New York is one of the NHL's weak-sister clubs, the games are rarely cakewalks for Philly. That was the case once again tonight.
It never felt like Philly was out of the game, even when the Islanders grabbed a 2-0 lead. Once New York scored first and staked themselves to an early two-goal advantage, it forced the Flyers to elevate their games.
"The worst scenario was that they could get a lead early," said Flyers coach John Stevens. "However tired they were feeling (after playing last night), it game them energy. It was a credit to our team that we just kept playing. I thought we were spending a lot of time in the offensive zone. That first goal was big for us. Sometimes it takes you 60 minutes to win a hockey game."
The Flyers' fourth line made their shifts count, with Riley Cote setting a physical tone and Arron Asham and rookie Darroll Powe getting rewarded with goals. The stars picked it up from there, with Jeff Carter and Simon Gagne tallying the Flyers' third and fourth goals.
"We talked about getting pucks on the net and crashing the net. I think we did that tonight with three goals that were just a matter of getting pucks to the net, and hopefully that's a sign of things to come," said Stevens.
Simon Gagne was quiet in the first two periods but stepped up in the final stanza. On Gagne's game-winner, the left winger got a nice flat pass from Mike Richards and was able to tee up a shot.
"I had a lot of time, and as a player you like it when you're coming in with speed and get a chance to take a slapshot. I had a lot of time to get the puck up, and it went in," he said.
According to Martin Biron, the Islanders' third goal took a crazy hop on him over his pads when he expected it to stay low to the ice.
"I had my share of good bounces in the first and second period. It was bouncing in my favor all night, so I'll take it," the keeper said.
Notes and quotes:
* Kimmo Timonen led all skaters for both teams with 26:33 of ice time. He was plus-three on the night with a pair of blocked shots.
* It always nice to watch a player after he scores his first NHL goal. Darroll Powe beamed
and said he'd "find somewhere special" to keep the puck.
* Riley Cote joked of his fight with Mitch Fritz, "My modeling career was long gone anyway."
3rd period synopsis: Flyers 4 - Islanders 3
It wasn't exactly a textbook way to close out a game, but the Flyers powerplay erased a bad tying goal by New York. Philadelphia sealed out the final few minutes.
Danis makes an arm save off a turnaround shot by Mike Knuble at 1:24. An active shift for Simon Gagne, who has had a quiet game up until this point.
Flyers 3 - Islanders 3 : At 2:17 Blake Comeau's partially blocked shot by Lasse Kukkonen from the right circle eludes Martin Biron. The goal is Comeau's first of the season. Bill Guerin gets the lone assist. That one needed to be stopped, even though the puck took a funny bounce on the goaltender.
The Islanders have missed the net on 14 shot attemtps through the first 45 minutes of play and the Flyers have blocked another 15.
Luca Sbisa off for tripping Doug Weight at 6:51 (looked from the pressbox as though Weight might have gone down on his own as Sbisa swiped at pick from the ice). Mike Richards nearly gets a shorthanded chance but the Islanders recover at their own blueline. Moments later, Andrew Alberts makes a nice play to stand his man up at the blueline.
Brendan Witt off for interference at 10:57. The Flyers capitalize almost immediately.
Flyers 4 - Islanders 3: At 11:08, Simon Gagne takes a pass from Mike Richards above the left circle and drills a shot past Danis for his 14th of the season (3rd powerplay goal). Braydon Coburn gets the secondary assist. The shot was just the Flyers' second of the period.
I haven't mentioned Kimmo Timonen much tonight, but he's having a strong game in his own end of the ice. He just made a subtle but outstanding play to disrupt Guerin enough to force him to make a bad pass.
Danis heads off for an extra attacker with 40 seconds left. Knuble clears the zone with five seconds left and the Flyers close out yet another one-goal game.
Shots were 11-4 in the Islanders' favor (27-25 in New York's favor for the game). Faceoffs were 8-8 (33-32 in the Islanders' favor at the end of regulation). Final hits were 19-18 for New York.
2nd period synopsis: Flyers 3 - Islanders 2
Martin Biron didn't see much action, but faced a couple of tough changes. Jeff Carter had several strong shifts and gave his team the lead, while the Flyers' fourth line scored for the second time in the game and rookie Darroll Powe tallied his first NHL goal. The Flyers are 8-1-2 when leading after two periods, but still need to show more consistency in nailing down games. The Islanders are 1-11-2 when trailing after 40 minutes.
Cite and Fritz drop the gloves at 3:01. Fritz landed several early shots in a row early. Cote came in as the fight moved along and Fritz went off with a cut.
Shots just 1-1 through 3:47.
Carter takes a feed from Hartnell as he goes to the net. Stoppage of play at 6:44.
Danis stops Mike Knuble from the slot on a rebound try at 7:40.
Flyers 2 - Islanders 2: Darroll Powe pots the first goal of his NHL at 8:09. Danis made the save on Mike Richards shot from the right side and Powe claims the rebound in the opposite slot to tie the game. Ossi Vaananen gets the other assists. After the goal, Richards retrieves the puck for the rookie.
Kukkonen gets two consecutive shot attempts blocked down midway through the period.
Jeff Carter goes around his man and narrowly misses a goal at 13:32.
Islanders called for too many men on the ice at 13:39. Biron denies a shorthanded bid by Sean Bergenheim with 40 seconds remaining on the advantage.
Flyers 3 - Islanders 2: At 16:02 Jeff Carter scores his 20th of the season as no Islander picks him up. Scottie Upshall carries into the zone, gets his shot blocked from the circle and takes his man to the net.
Coincidental high sticking minors to Bill Guerin and Upshall at 16:36.
Shots were 10 for the Flyers, 5 for the Islanders (Flyers lead 21-16) through two periods. Faceoffs were 15-12 in the Flyers' favor (Ilanders lead 25-24 through two periods. New York's Mike Sillinger 12 for 16 through two periods, 6-for-9 in the second period. Jeff Carter 12-for-20 through two periods for the Flyers). Hits were 8-8 (15-15 through two periods).
1st period synopsis: Flyers 1 - Islanders 2
The Islanders grab a quick 2-0 lead by getting men to the net. The Flyers gets one back as a big hit leads to a scoring chance. The Flyers are just 1-6-2 when giving up the game's first goal, and 1-4-2 when trailing after the first period. The Islanders are 7-5-1 when scoring first and just 2-3-1 when leading after the first. It's still anyone's game.
Simon Gagne with a nice backchecking play at 1:50 to help out Lasse Kukkonen on a 2-on-1 rush, breaking up the play. Gagne slides into the net, knocking it off its moorings.
Mitch Fritz off for holding at 3:20. On the delayed call, Kimmo Timonen shows off some nifty stickhandling in the circle, feeding Mike Knuble for a scoring chance. The Flyers' best chance on the powerplay comes when Mike Richards carries puck in deep and feeds out to Knuble. Yann Denis makes the save, and the Flyers can't
Scott Hartnell goes off for an offensive zone minor at 7:44. The Islanders are still looking for their first shot of the period. Twenty eight seconds into the penalty, Martin Biron picks a Mark Streit point shot cleanly (no screen). With 21 seconds left on the penalty, the Islanders cash in.
Islanders 1 - Flyers 0: Streit feeds from the right point to Chris Campoli in the left circle. Campoli sends the puck in front, where Andy Hilbert gets a stick on it and sends it past Biron. Time of the powerplay goal was 9:23.
Islanders 2 - Flyers 0: The Islanders once again get a main to the doorstep, this time Doug Weight. send a puck on net from the mid-slot. Biron makes the save, but Sean Bergenheim controls the puck near the goal line. He sends out to Weight, who steers the puck home from point blank range for his 6th goal of the season. Time of the goal was 10:24.
Islanders 2 - Flyers 1 :Riley Cote lands a crunching clean hit behind the net on Jon Sim and sends the puck in front. Arron Asham claims the puck in the slot and snaps his second goal of the season past Danis at 11:55. Cote gets the assist.
On most even strengths so far, Luca Sbisa has been playing with Lasse Kukkonen, Braydon Coburn with Andrew Alberts. Kukkonen, by the way, has been credited with a pair of hits along the boards and a takeaway in his first five shifts.
The Flyers generate good pressure on a shift that started with Jeff Carter beating out an icing call. New York gets away with a stick hold on Carter and a cross-check on Joffrey Lupul.
Another offensive zone penalty for the Flyers. This time it's Mike Knuble for hooking at 16:07. There's one again a lot of action directly on Biron's doorstep and a hit goal post on a Mike Sillinger deflection.
Carter wins a draw cleanly in the final 10 seconds, but the Flyers can't generate a shot or chance as the period expires with the puck in the corner.
Shots were 11-11. Faceoffs were 13-9 in the Islanders favor (Mike Sillinger was 6-for-7). Hits were 7-7 (Kukkonen and Sillinger each with two apiece, Cote's hit resulted in a goal).
Abbreviated preview (4 PM, EST)
The Flyers (13-7-6) have handled the New York Islanders (10-15-2) in two previous meetings this season, and enter tonight's game having won six consecutive games over New York.
New York has lost four of its last five games. The Islanders are usually a hard-working team, but they just don't have the talent or depth to produce results. The Islanders have only five points this season (two wins and one OT loss) in games where they trail after the opening period and are one of the NHL's worst third period teams (getting outscored by a 43-20 margin). The Isles still rely heavily on older veterans such as Doug Weight and Bill Guerin to carry the offense.
The special teams advantage, as usual, is in the Flyers' favor heading into the game. Philly's power play has been outstanding at home this season, connecting at a 31.6% rate. The Isles, meanwhile, are 28th in road penalty killing. The Flyers' penalty kill is fifth in the NHL (both home and road), while the Islanders power play is 15th overall but seventh on the road (22%). The Isles have already seen this season what a threat the Flyers' PK units are to score shorthanded goals.
FLYERS LINES
Gagne -Richards - Knuble
Hartnell - Carter - Lupul
Upshall - Metropolit - Nödl
Cote - Powe - Asham
Timonen - Väänänen
Coburn - Sbisa
Alberts - Kukkonen
Biron
[Niittymäki]
Scratches: Carle (back spasms), Briere (LTIR, groin), Jones (LTIR, hip), Parent (LTIR, shoulder), Hatcher (LTIR, knee)
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