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Gagne helps Flyers extend Islanders' slide

Dec 10, 2008 - 4:48 AM PHILADELPHIA (Ticker) -- It was another close contest at the Wachovia Center, and thanks to Simon Gagne, the Philadelphia Flyers extended their home points streak to seven games.

Gagne snapped a tie midway through the third period with a power-play goal, leading the Flyers to a 4-3 triumph over the struggling New York Islanders on Tuesday.

Jeff Carter notched his league-leading 20th tally, Darroll Powe netted his first career goal and former Islander Arron Asham also scored for the Flyers, who improved to 5-0-2 in their last seven home games and 10-1-3 in their last 14 contests overall.

"Guys on our fourth line (Powe and Asham) had two goals tonight. They work so hard," Philadelphia coach John Stevens said. "They do so many good things that aren't necessarily measurable on the stat sheet, but they bring such good things to the hockey team that, from our standpoint, don't get overlooked."

Martin Biron made 24 saves in extending his personal winning streak against New York to nine games.

Andy Hilbert, Doug Weight and Blake Comeau tallied for the Islanders, who have lost four in a row and six of seven.

"The losing has to stop," New York coach Scott Gordon said. "But what I said to the players after the game was, if there was any consolation in a good effort after a loss was that there were some good things that we can grab onto. I felt that our guys went about business the right way. There are some things that we can get better at, but overall, we were up against a team that is playing their best hockey."

Of Philadelphia's 14 home games this season, 13 have been decided by one goal, with the Flyers winning seven.

"We haven't been winning many games by more than one goal," Gagne said. "It's been by one goal a lot lately. ... We know that we've been finding ways to win games, and it happened again tonight."

In this one, the Flyers fell into a 2-0 hole early as the Islanders were attempting to halt a three-game road skid.

Hilbert opened the scoring at 9:23, receiving a pass from the left faceoff circle by defenseman Chris Campoli and beating Biron from the doorstep during a power play for his seventh goal of the season.

Weight doubled the advantage 61 seconds later, when he corralled the rebound of Sean Bergenheim's shot in front and fired the puck past Biron for his sixth tally.

Asham halved the deficit less than two minutes afterward. After creating a turnover by checking former Flyer Jon Sim behind the net, tough guy Riley Cote dished the puck to Asham, who buried a shot from the slot with 8:05 remaining in the first.

"We've been struggling to score 5-on-5," Cote said. "For the fourth line to contribute offensively is a huge boost for us. I know where we stand on the fourth line. We create energy and get some hits. If we can throw a couple of goals on the scoreboard, that's always a bonus."

"It was a great play," Stevens said. "(Cote) got on the forecheck, turned the puck over. I think Ash has played well as of late. It's nice to see him get a puck in the net there as well."

Gagne admitted Asham's goal sparked the Flyers.

"That kind of gave us the energy to get some life back," he said. "It's hard when you start a game and you see the other team score two goals. You feel like you've played well in the first, but it was huge to see that fourth line get that goal."

Powe drew Philadelphia even at 8:09 of the second, putting the rebound of captain Mike Richards' shot past goaltender Yann Danis from low in the left circle.

"It almost felt like a pass off of the goalie's pads," Powe said. "It gave me an empty net, and all I had to do was tap it in. It felt really good. I'll find somewhere special for that (puck)."

"He's a north-south player. There is no east-west in his game," Stevens said. "He gets to the net. We talked about 5-on-5s, just getting pucks to the net and crashing the net a little bit, and I thought he did that tonight."

Carter staked the Flyers to a 3-2 advantage with 3:58 left in the session, when he grabbed a loose puck on the left side and ripped it into the net to tie Buffalo's Thomas Vanek for the league lead in goals.

"The goal by Carter was a lucky goal," Danis said. "It hit some skates and stick and it went right to him."

The tally was Carter's fourth in as many games and fifth in six contests.

Comeau knotted the contest just 2:17 into the third with his first of the season, wristing a shot from the right faceoff dot that deflected off Philadelphia defenseman Ossi Vaananen and past Biron.

"I was flying, coming across the middle," Comeau said. "I ended up getting the puck while I was going full speed. I tried to shoot off the blocker for a rebound, but it went off a stick, so I got a lucky bounce there."

But just 11 seconds into New York blue-liner Brendan Witt's interference penalty, Richards slid a pass to Gagne, who one-timed it inside the right goalpost from the top of the left circle with 8:52 left in the period for a 4-3 edge.

"I had a lot of time, and as a player, you like when you're coming in with your speed," Gagne said. "I had a lot of time to get it up, and it went in. It was a good feeling giving us the lead."

Richards collected two assists for the Flyers, who have won all three meetings between the teams this season.

Danis turned aside 21 shots for New York, which fell to 1-6-2 against Atlantic Division rivals and 0-2-0 on its current four-game road trip.

"It was a long time since my last start," said Danis, who made just his second start as an Islander and first since November 1. "I've been here a while and I wanted to get out there and help the team."