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Power-play goals help Flyers top Islanders

Mar 9, 2008 - 5:24 AM PHILADELPHIA (Ticker) -- The Philadelphia Flyers boast the league's second-best power play. On Saturday, they showed the New York Islanders just how potent it is.

Scott Hartnell scored a pair of power-play goals and Daniel Briere and Jeff Carter also tallied with the man advantage as the Flyers skated to a 4-1 triumph over the Islanders on Saturday.

All-Star defenseman Kimmo Timonen collected three assists and Martin Biron made 32 saves for the eighth-place Flyers (35-26-8), who are one point behind the Boston Bruins (36-25-7) and New York Rangers (35-24-9) for sixth place in the Eastern Conference.

Entering the contest having converted just two of its last 17 power-play opportunities, Philadelphia went 4-for-7 against the Islanders and improving to 5-1-1 in its last seven games.

"You have to get the puck to the net," Hartnell said of the Flyers' power-play success. "Good things happen when you get the puck to the net."

"It was a huge part of the win," Carter added. "We were struggling, but the big thing was that we were able to get the pucks in on our dump-ins. We were really chasing it, and it worked out tonight."

Former Philadelphia defenseman Freddy Meyer scored the lone goal for the Islanders (32-21-7), who fell to 2-6-0 in their last eight games and seven points behind the Flyers.

"It's a big mountain to climb," Islanders coach Ted Nolan said. "The thing that we have to worry about is just getting one win. Tonight, I thought we just didn't get the effort from everyone."

"We knew what was at stake," Carter said. "We had some key guys out of the lineup, but we are working hard. We are starting to get a few bounces now."

Briere opened the scoring with 2:48 into the second period.

With Philadelphia on a 5-on-3 power play, Timonen wristed a shot from the slot that deflected off the stick of the Islanders' Richard Park. The puck fluttered in the air before falling right to Briere, who slapped it into the net for his 24th goal of the season and second in as many games.

"That's the way it is on the power play," Briere said. "When you shoot the puck, sometimes you are going to get bounces. Tonight, we got some bounces to go our way."

The Flyers doubled the advantage with 7:54 remaining in the second session.

After All-Star goaltender Rick DiPietro misplayed a routine carom off the boards, Scottie Upshall alertly fed Carter in front. The 23-year-old immediately swatted the puck into the vacant net for his career-high 26th goal of the season and sixth in his last five games.

"It was a lucky bounce," Carter said of his goal. "We wound it around the rim and it went off (DiPietro's) skate. I just stopped at the net and the puck was right there."

"Regardless how that go in, they're still goals," DiPietro said. "It's tough to come back on a team like that."

Hartnell gave the Flyers a three-goal bulge just 7:22 into the third period by wristing a shot from just outside the right faceoff circle past a screened DiPietro.

Meyer scored 23 seconds later, but Hartnell added his second goal of the game - and 22nd of the season - by deflecting a shot by defenseman Braydon Coburn past DiPietro with 6:42 remaining.

"You've got to get the pucks though," Hartnell said. "I was able to get my stick on the one coming from Coburn. We have been doing a great job of getting the pucks to the net."

"We've been playing good hockey, but we haven't had the killer instinct in the third period," Briere said. "I liked that tonight, we got those two power-play goals in the third to ice the game."

DiPietro, who made his first start in four games, finished with 23 saves. The netminder missed two contests following the death of his grandmother, then served as the backup to Wade Dubielewicz in Thursday's loss to the Rangers.

"They've got some big bodies and they take up a lot of space in front of the net," DiPietro said. "That's their game plan - get pucks to the net with traffic. They were able to get some deflections."