FLYERS NEWS

Sometimes it is better to be lucky than good and so the Flyers were this afternoon to be playing the lowly Islanders, instead of a team with actual talent. Otherwise, they might well have finished on the wrong side of things for the 4th time in 5 games. Instead New York provided it's usual 3rd period collapse to help the Flyers avoid that embarrassment. Like yesterday against the Devils this was not exactly the Flyers best effort but they did just enough. New York actually out shot them 30-27 and in someways out played them for a stretch late in the 2nd period and into the 3rd. In fact they really had every right to believe they were actually going to win for a change. Fortunately, for the Orange and Black after a struggle yesterday afternoon, the team's special teams rebounded in a big way this afternoon, blanking the Islander power play on 4 attempts and actually scoring on their power play for the first time in seemingly forever.

Late in the 1st period Andrej Meszaros and Mike Richards setup Matt Carle for a 1-0 Flyer's lead. From there all the way to the beginning of the 3rd period the Orange and Black just sat on that lead and seemed poised to ride it to a win, with Sergei Bobrovsky and the D holding up well. Then 5 minutes into the 3rd period New York finally broke the Flyer defenses with 2 goals in about 40 seconds to swiftly move ahead 2-1. It then looked like that lead might hold up before Matt Moulson took a foolish holding with just over half the period left to play. It was here on their 4 power play of the contest that the Orange and Black finally ended their streak of failed power plays, Andreas Nodl registering the tally as Meszaros picked up his 2nd assist. The final outcome was still in doubt though until Ville Leino and Scott Hartnell teamed up to assist Danny Briere on the game winner, as the Orange and Black pulled out a fairly lucky 3-2 win which actually moves them back to first in the Eastern conference and Atlantic division because they have fewer losses then everyone else in the conference and division.