PHILADELPHIA 4, ISLANDERS 1
Power play fuels Flyers victory

The Philadelphia Flyers used two power play goals in the second and third periods to skate past the Islanders 4-1, Saturday night at Wachovia Center.

Scott Hartnell scored two power play goals, while Daniel Briere and Jeff Carter also added man-advantage tallies for the Flyers who went 4 for 7 on the power play. Kimmo Timonen and Braydon Coburn each registered three assists.

"They have a very good power play," said head coach Ted Nolan. "Usually our penalty killers are one of our strongest points, but tonight you have to give Philly a lot of credit. Penalties were a big part of this game. You have to be disciplined. There were a couple of penalties we took that didn't need to be taken. Against a good power play it's going to hurt you."

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Martin Biron picked up his 25th win of the season, stopping 32 shots. Rick DiPietro made 23 saves in the losing effort.

"Rick was okay tonight," said Nolan. "When you're so used to seeing a star performance, anything else is not normal, but I think once he gets his groove going he'll be alright."

Freddy Meyer scored the lone goal for the Islanders, who have three games remaining on their road trip.

Briere scored from the goal line on a 5-on-3 goal at 2:48 of the second period to make it 1-0.

The Flyers grabbed a 2-0 advantage on another power play goal. Off a scramble, Carter scored his 26th of the season with 7:54 left in the second period.

"I thought we were right in the hockey game until those two goals," said Nolan. "The first goal was one of those unfortunate breaks."

Tempers flared late in the second period. Captains Bill Guerin and Jason Smith dropped the gloves leading to an Islanders power play.

Braydon Coburn scored the Flyers' third power play goal at 7:22 of the third period. Meyer broke up Biron's shutout bid with a slap shot just 23 seconds after Coburn's goal. Hartnell scored his second of the game on a tip play with 6:42 left in the third period.

"We're in a tough situation," said Nolan. "It was tough before the game and now it's even tougher. In order for us to win we need the guys going 100-percent, not 90-percent, not 80-percent."

The Islanders will visit the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday at St. Pete Times Forum.

Five Stars of the Game:
1. Scott Hartnell: Scored his 5th and 6th goals of the season against the Islanders
2. Kimmo Timonen: Played set-up man with three assists
3. Braydon Coburn: Also tallied three helpers
4. Martin Biron: Withstood the Islanders' early barrage
5. Daniel Briere: Has tallied four points in the past three games against the Islanders

Stat of the Game: The Islanders out-shot the Flyers 33-27. The Islanders are 12-17-3 when out-shooting their opponents.

Slapshots: Martin Biron improved to 5-0-0 against the Islanders this season…The Islanders have picked up only two points against the Flyers in six games in 2007-08...The Flyers have gone 10 of 26 on the power play against the Islanders…Scott Hartnell has scored six goals against the Islanders this season.



ISLANDERS
Goaltenders
39 Rick DiPietro
34 Wade Dubielewicz

Defensemen
32 Brendan Witt - 24 Radek Martinek
44 Freddy Meyer - 3   Rob Davison
4   Bryan Berard – 2 Aaron Johnson

Forwards
81 Miroslav Satan- 89 Mike Comrie - 13 Bill Guerin
26 Ruslan Fedotenko - 63 Josef Vasicek – 7 Trent Hunter
20 Sean Bergenheim – 10 Richard Park – 11 Andy Hilbert
15 Jeff Tambellini – 72 Jeremy Colliton – 57 Blake Comeau


PHILADELPHIA
Goaltenders
43 Martin Biron
30 Antero Niittymaki

Defensemen
6 Randy Jones  - 21 Jason Smith
5 Braydon Coburn - 44 Kimmo Timonen
77 Ryan Parent - 2 Derian Hatcher
26 Jaroslav Modry

Forwards
40 Vaclav Prospal - 48 Daniel Briere - 20. R.J. Umberger
9 Scottie Upshall - 17 Jeff Carter - 22 Mike Knuble
19 Scott Hartnell - 25 Patrick Thoresen - 24 Sami Kapanen
32 Riley Cote - 34 Jim Dowd

Additional Reporting by Adam Baruch


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