Flyers Defeat Islanders, Overtake Boston for 7th Place

March 23rd, 2008 by James

The Flyers may have the second ranked Power Play in the NHL, but in the past few games it has been very ineffective. Tonight, it looked to be back in form. 3 of the 4 Flyers goals came on the Power Play.

The Islanders come into this game with only 1 win in 8 games. Last week they also received the bad news that franchise goaltender Rick DiPietro was going to have season ending surgery on his hip for the second season in a row.

The Flyers came out strong and really pressured the Islanders. The scoring was opened by the Flyers who were on the Power Play and had a 2 man advantage. Mike Richards won the faceoff and got the puck back to Danny Briere at the point. Briere skated in from the point directing traffic and signaling to Vaclav Prospal who was on the other side of the net. One quick pass and a slam dunk goal by Prospal.

Philadelphia outshot New York 14-8 in the first period. However, there was no quit in the Islanders, who then outshot the Flyers 25 to 12 in the next two periods. However goals by Braydon Coburn in the second period, and Briere and Scott Hartnell in the third period combined with stellar goaltending by Martin Biron put the game out of reach for the Islanders.

Chants of “Marty” could be heard from the Wachovia Center crowd after several outstanding saves by Biron.

Coming into this game the Flyers were tied with the Boston Bruins with 84 points. This win puts the Flyers in seventh place in the Eastern Conference and two points ahead of the Bruins.

Up next for the Flyers are the New York Rangers on Tuesday, the New Jersey Devils on Friday and the Islanders again on Saturday. All of these games are on the road.

Highlights
Game Summary
Box Score

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