Flyers Top Islanders

There is no Eric Lindros or John LeClair but it didn`t matter against the New York Islanders on Wednesday night.

The Flyers` top line of Keith Primeau, Simon Gagne and Mark Recchi contributed six points to help the Flyers move within two points of the Atlantic Division lead with a 3-1 victory over the Islanders.

"These guys are so easy to play with," said Primeau, who assisted on goals by Recchi and Gagne. "Both of them are very talented, and we work well as a unit."

The Flyers, who hadn`t played since beating the Islanders last Friday, came out hard and left the ice after 20 minutes with a 1-0 lead.

It was Rick Tocchet who got the goal, his 500th point with the Flyers, at 4:42. Defenseman Ruslan Fedotenko, standing at the left boards at center ice, backhanded a pass up the middle to a streaking Tocchet, who broke in alone on goalie John Vanbiesbrouck. Tocchet sent a 15-foot wrister low to the glove side.

"It was a great play by Fedotenko," Flyers coach Bill Barber said. "We wanted to get an early jump. We did not want the Islanders in this game, period."

The Flyers did more jumping in the second period, and emerged with a 3-0 lead.

One second after a power play expired, Primeau tried to hit Recchi with a cross-ice pass. The puck popped up, and as it was coming down, Recchi struck it past Vanbiesbrouck at 7:24.

"I just whacked at it," Recchi said. "We were at the end of a power play and we were tired. I was lucky to get that."

Gagne`s goal, his team-leading 24th, came off a turnover by Islanders center Tim Connolly. Primeau found Gagne streaking in on the left side, and beat Vanbiesbrouck with a wrist shot that made it over the goalie`s pad at the short side.

It was the last shift of the game for Connolly.

"If we`re not going to learn, we might as well do something," Islanders coach Butch Goring said of the benching. "It might be worth short-term pain for some long-term gain."

The Islanders played a better third period and scored their only goal when Jason Blake beat goalie Roman Cechmanek with a left side looping wrist shot at 5:15. It would be the only puck they would put in the net all night.

"Even after they got that goal, we stayed patient," Recchi said. "We played smart, good team hockey tonight."

Primeau said that team management was right in making a coaching change to Barber from Craig Ramsay, even if the timing was odd, since the Flyers were over .500 at the time.

"We`ve come a long way because we struggled at the start of the year," Primeau said. "The coaching change seemed like a bad idea at the time, but management realized even then that we were better than a .500 team."

New York has lost six straight (0-5-0-1), and already had losing streaks of eight (0-7-0-1) and seven games (0-7-0-0) earlier this season. The Islanders` 14-35-5-3 record is the worst in the NHL.

"I`ve been through this with an expansion team before," Vanbiesbrouck said of his time with the Florida Panthers. "With new ownership here, it`s Year One of commitment and the perception of commitment. It takes its toll on your attitude. You think you have a good one, and then reality sets in."

Notes:
Connolly had only 8:50 of ice time over the first two periods. ... This is the second of three straight home games against Philadelphia for the Islanders. Conversely, this is the second of three consecutive road games to Long Island for the Flyers. ... Philadelphia improved to 7-7 when wearing its black road uniforms. ... The Flyers last loss on Long Island was Nov. 25, 1998, going 4-0-1 there since then.

(Copyright 2001 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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Author: 6 ABC - Action News (AP)