• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Hilbert scores late to lead Islanders past Flyers

Mar 25, 2007 - 4:59 AM PHILADELPHIA (Ticker) -- Andy Hilbert got in a perfect position to keep the New York Islanders in a good position.

Hilbert drove hard to the net to score a crucial goal late in the third period as the Islanders picked up a much-needed win, a 4-3 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers.

Fighting for their playoff lives, the Islanders (36-27-11) entered the game one point back of the Carolina Hurricanes (38-29-8) and Montreal Canadiens (39-31-6) for eighth place in the Eastern Conference. New York remained behind the clubs, as Carolina and Montreal also posted victories Saturday, but has one game in hand on the Hurricanes and two on the Canadiens.

After going 0-3-2 in their previous five road games, the Islanders relied on Hilbert to end that slide.

Defenseman Marc-Andre Bergeron carried the puck deep into the Flyers' zone and sent a backhand pass into the crease. Charging hard, Hilbert lifted the puck past goaltender Martin Biron with 4:40 remaining for his eighth goal of the season and a 4-3 lead.

"For our team, I think that was a huge goal because points are so hard to come by," Hilbert said. "I just came right off the bench. I just went hard to the net and gave (Bergeron) a yell. He made a great backhand pass and I just tipped it in."

"He has been struggling on that side of the puck for a little bit, but he found a way," New York coach Ted Nolan said of Hilbert. "Good character guys usually stick to it, and that was a big goal. It was nice to see him get that big goal for us."

Philadelphia was ahead by one goal on two different occassions in the second period but could not hold either one and lost its fourth in a row and sixth of seven.

"We got beat to the outside and we got beat to the net," Flyers coach John Stevens said. "We turned the puck over in the neutral zone, and it cost us the game. We had the puck in transition and we went to pass it in the middle. Then they came out on the wide side with the attack and it was a 2-on-2 rush.

"You can't let a guy drive to the net and you don't allow a guy to beat you outside. We got beat on both counts."

Rick DiPietro made 18 saves for New York en route to his 32nd win, tying Billy Smith and Chris Osgood for the single-season franchise record.

Richard Park, Randy Robitaille and Jason Blake also tallied for the Islanders, who played without forwards Miroslav Satan and Richard Zednik. Both players missed the game for personal reasons, with Satan's absence ending his consecutive games played streak at 304.

"That hurt. Give (Satan) credit because he hasn't practiced too much with us in the past month," Nolan said. "He is fighting through something that we are going to keep quiet. He was just starting to get his game going, so we missed him a lot today."

Jeff Carter, defenseman Randy Jones and Ben Eager scored for Philadelphia.

The Flyers have only 51 points, by far the lowest total in the league, but that did not make things any easier for the Islanders. Philadelphia tied the game at 1-1 on Carter's first-period tally and took leads in the second session, when Jones and Eager each recorded their fourth goals of the season.

Despite the fact the Flyers are is playing for nothing more than pride, the Islanders were given all they could handle, and expected as much from their Atlantic Division rivals.

"That's one thing about teams that aren't in the playoffs. They tend to play a bit 'loosey-goosey' because there isn't that pressure to get points, and sometimes they are a dangerous team to play," Nolan said. "Give them credit because Philly played hard today. We had to be on top of our game to get the win."