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Giroux line, strong 3rd period gets Flyers past Islanders

Jan 19, 2014 - 3:54 AM Philadelphia, PA (SportsNetwork.com) - Claude Giroux assisted on the tying and go-ahead scores in the third period from linemates Jakub Voracek and Michael Raffl, and Philadelphia rallied past the New York Islanders, 6-4, on Saturday.

Andrej Meszaros tallied twice in the first period, while Adam Hall and Matt Read also lit the lamp for the Flyers, who tied a team record by erasing a third-period deficit for the ninth time this season.

His defense lacking, Steve Mason was pulled after allowing four goals on 24 shots in less than two periods. Ray Emery subbed and picked up the win with five saves the rest of the way.

"I thought they picked their game up. We played a real good third period but the first two periods are inexcusable," said Flyers head coach Craig Berube. "Mason was a victim of the team's poor play."

John Tavares, Cal Clutterbuck, Brock Nelson and Brian Strait scored for the Islanders, who look to gain points in the back end of this home-and-home set on Monday in Uniondale.

"It gives you that motivation that hey, we have two days to make up for this game," said Isles defenseman Andrew MacDonald. "It's unacceptable the way we lost this, but moving forward, Monday's a chance at redemption. We have to come out hard."

Kevin Poulin gave up five goals on 31 shots in defeat.

A no-look pass from Giroux in the slot to Voracek on the right wing zipped home at 7:14 of the third and knotted the game 4-4.

Giroux then made another slick move on the left wing, picking up his own blocked shot and passing backwards, where Raffl pumped home the lead score with 4:15 to play.

"Yeah, 'G' took the puck, got a good shot off, it got blocked and then I don't know how he saw me but he put it right on the blade and went in," Raffl said.

Poulin was sent to the bench with just over one minute remaining, but Read bounced the insurance tally into the empty cage shortly thereafter.

Things looked better for the last-place team in the Metropolitan Division early on. Thomas Vanek picked up a loose puck behind the Philadelphia net and fed in front to an open Tavares for the game's opening goal at 7:43 of the first.

Clutterbuck tapped in a Frans Nielsen feed seconds into a Flyers power play and the visitors led 2-0 at 11:54, and though the hosts failed to convert the remainder of the advantage, they eventually halved the deficit when a Meszaros shot from a sharp angle on the left wing rolled up Poulin's stick and through his pads.

Meszaros then tied the score, working his way from the point into the left circle and beating Poulin with a high drive at 18:38.

A shot from Mark Streit deflected off Hall's stick on its way to the back of the net with 3:45 gone in the second, and Philly led 3-2 after a brief review determined it wasn't touched with a high stick.

Tavares had a goal wiped out just before the eight-minute mark of the frame, as Vanek fell in front of Mason and obstructed his path to stopping the shot.

But Calvin de Haan's point shot at the tail end of an Islanders advantage was tipped by Nelson and eluded Mason for a 3-3 tie at 11:05 before Strait put Mason on the bench and the visitors ahead with six minutes left in the stanza.

"We got away from the way we were playing in the first two periods," Tavares admitted. "We played on our heels and they're going to come at you, they've got a lot of skill and it's a tough place to play in. You've got to play a full 60 minutes against these guys."

Game Notes

Philadelphia improved to 17-1-2 at home against the Islanders since the start of the 2007-08 season ... The Eastern Conference champion 1996-97 Flyers club won nine times after trailing at some point in the third period ... Mason was signed to a three-year contract extension worth more than $12 million, hours before the start of the contest ... Read netted his first goal since Dec. 17 at Washington ... Meszaros' only other two-goal effort as a Flyer occurred against the Islanders, on Apr. 9, 2011 in a 7-4 victory ... Philly finished an incredible 39-for-58 (67 percent) on faceoffs.