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Flyers' power play destroys Islanders again

Mar 24, 2008 - 3:30 AM By Mike Luongo PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

PHILADELPHIA (Ticker) -- Lately, the mere presence of the New York Islanders has inspired great results from the Philadelphia Flyers and their special teams.

Vaclav Prospal and Daniel Briere converted two of the Flyers' three power-play goals in a 4-1 victory over the Islanders on Sunday.

Prospal notched a goal and an assist while Briere netted a goal and two assists for Philadelphia.

The Flyers, who entered the game with the second-best power-play unit in the league at 22 percent (79-for-151), were in the midst of a 1-for-17 slump over their last four games before converting on 3-of-5 chances in this contest.

Coincidentally, Philadelphia also was struggling with the man advantage entering its last contest with the Islanders on March 8, and converted 4-of-7 opportunities en route to another 4-1 win over New York in that game.

"The chances you get on the power play - it's important that you take advantage of them," Briere said. "The last time they were here, we scored (four) on the power play. It's the best way, because you know that you will not create much because they stay back."

The Flyers (38-28-10) also got a power-play tally from Braydon Coburn as they overtook the idle Boston Bruins (37-28-10) for the seventh spot in the Eastern Conference.

"We still have things that we have to correct but these points are critical heading down the stretch," Flyers coach John Stevens said. "The pressure doesn't go away. The pack is still there."

Philadelphia extended its lead over the ninth-place Washington Capitals (37-31-8), who were also idle. Prospal netted his 32nd goal of the season with a two-man advantage at the 12:01 mark of the first period.

Briere got the puck off the faceoff at the left point and skated to the left circle before finding Prospal at the right side of the Islanders net. Prospal easily wristed a one-timer past Islanders netminder Joey MacDonald.

For Prospal, who was acquired in a February 25 trade with Tampa Bay, it was his third goal this season in his second stint with the Flyers. He started his NHL career with Philadelphia and played here for most of two seasons before he was traded to the Ottawa Senators.

"I kind of felt that on a 5-on-3, the pass was going to go through the crease," Prospal said. "I knew that when Danny (Briere) had the puck, he was not even looking at me. I just tried to get my stick on the puck when the pass came through."

"I was trying to fine the passing lane," Briere said. I knew that Vinnie (Prospal) was sneaking in the back door there. I was trying to get into position to get that pass across to make that play."

Philadelphia managed just four shots in the second period but made the most of one of them to take a 2-0 lead on Coburn's power-play tally, his ninth of the season. Coburn took a pass from defenseman Jaroslav Modry at the right circle and blasted a slap shot high over the glove of MacDonald.

The Flyers' final power-play conversion came courtesy of Briere, who took a pass from Mike Richards at the left circle and released a shot that went off MacDonald and into the net for his 29th goal of the season.

Briere also contributed to the fourth goal. Prospal took a pass from Briere and fed Scott Hartnell, who squeezed in the puck past MacDonald for his 23rd goal of the season.

"Danny did a good job of coming back into the neutral zone and giving me the puck," Hartnell said. "I pushed it to the outside and then Vinnie made an unbelievable pass. All I had to do was put my stick on the puck."

Flyers goaltender Martin Biron stopped 32 shots to pick up the win, improving to 6-0 this season against the Islanders. MacDonald recorded 22 saves in his season debut for the Islanders.

"They just kept throwing pucks at the net," MacDonald said. "They seemed to get a guy back there and that pass kept getting through. It was tough to make a play when you had to get from one side to the other."

Miroslav Satan scored his 15th goal of the season at 15:33 of the third on the power play to help New York avoid the shutout.