Isles halt skid, Philly does not as New York tops Flyers
Trent Hunter scored a goal and added two assists.
(Tuesday, February 12th)
Final Score: NY Islanders 4, Philadelphia 3
Uniondale, NYÂ - Trent Hunter had a goal and two assists, as the New York Islanders got back into the win column with a 4-3 decision over the slumping Philadelphia Flyers at Nassau Coliseum.
Ruslan Fedotenko added a goal and a helper against his former team and Rick DiPietro made 26 stops for the Islanders, who halted a seven-game losing streak.
Danny Briere snapped out of a funk to get back in the scoring column for Philadelphia, which has now lost four in a row. He and Joffrey Lupul finished with a goal and an assist, while Antero Niittymaki made 43 saves in net.
“It reminds me a little bit of that drought we had right around Christmas time where we were just a bit short,” Briere said. “And it’s frustrating because we’re close, we know what’s going on, we know what we’re doing wrong, but it’s like, you’re in that funk and it’s got to run its course, and it’s frustrating.”
New York opened the scoring with 2:18 left in the first, as Hunter picked up some loose change in front and punched it past Niittymaki.
Briere ended his eight-game goal drought early in the second stanza to knot it at 1-1. DiPietro denied Briere’s initial try and a point-blank shot from Mike Knuble moments later, but Briere found the rebound at the left side of the net and wedged it in between the netminder and the near post on the power play.
The Islanders responded with back-to-back goals to take a 3-1 lead. After Mike Richards failed to capitalize on a short-handed breakaway, Jeff Tambellini lit the lamp on the other end of the ice with a wrister from the right circle at the 5:27 mark of the second. Sean Bergenheim made it a two-goal game later in the stanza, outracing a defender to the puck deep in the zone before chipping the disc past Niittymaki stick-side.
A one-timer from R.J. Umberger to Scott Hartnell with 2:30 left in the second brought Philadelphia within one and the Flyers nearly tied it with about eight minutes left in the third, but Kimmo Timonen’s shot rang off the post.
Moments later, Fedotenko found a rebound in front and capitalized to extend the Islanders lead to 4-2.
“I just tried to find my game, just go to the front of the net, create some traffic and bring the puck to the net,” Fedotenko said.
The Flyers made it interesting when Lupul scored on a slap shot from the point with 59.6 seconds remaining in the contest, but the Islanders survived a 6- on-4 deficit in the closing seconds to hold on.
Game Notes
The Flyers were playing without forward Simon Gagne, who suffered a concussion on Sunday against Pittsburgh - his third this season…New York last won back on January 22 at Carolina…Fedotenko played the 2000-01 and ‘01-02 seasons with the Flyers…This is the Flyers’ longest skid since losing six straight from December 13-22…Philly had won the previous three meetings this season.
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