Flyers Down Islanders

The Philadelphia Flyers finally scored a power-play goal, though that's not why they celebrated. Keith Primeau scored the game-winner on a power play with 7:39 left as the Flyers beat the New York Islanders 3-2 Tuesday night. "It's important that we scored a power-play goal," Primeau said, "but it's more important that we got the win."

Primeau tipped the puck in from the crease after a sharp centering pass by Mark Recchi to break a 2-2 tie. It also broke the Flyers' 0-for-23 skid with the man advantage. They were 1-for-7 on the night.

"We scored on the power play when we needed it," Philadelphia coach Bill Barber said. "Our power play has struggled, we all know that."

Simon Gagne and Jeremy Roenick added goals for Philadelphia, which outshot New York 40-20.

"We still have a long ways to go," Primeau said, "but the power-play generated a lot of chances, so it's encouraging."

The Flyers, who play host to the Islanders on Thursday, have 30 points and are within striking distance of the New York Rangers, Islanders and Toronto Maple Leafs, who have been trading the top spot of the Eastern Conference for several weeks.

"We have to close the gap with the teams in front of us," Roenick said. "So Thursday night's game is huge."

Jason Blake and Mark Parrish, who matched his goal total of last season with his 17th, scored for New York.

The Islanders are winless in four and the players blame fatigue.

"Right now, we're not playing our best hockey," captain Michael Peca said. "The biggest thing is that some guys are starting to press. It seems we've lost sight of what got us here, when we were having fun.

"We haven't been our bubbly fun selves," he added. "It's because we're trying to concentrate and focus, but the lighter side isn't there right now."

The biggest blow to the Islanders was a boarding call on Brad Isbister in the third that set up Primeau's power-play score. Many players, as well as coach Peter Laviolette, questioned the call.

"As far I'm concerned, it was a no-call," Laviolette said, noting the infraction and the whistle came several seconds apart.

"He made a judgment call and it turned out to be a pretty big one," Isbister said. "I was just trying to finish my check."

The Islanders showed some life in the first and second periods, but mustered only five shots in the third – and none after Primeau's goal.

Laviolette partially blamed the officials for his team's "choppy" play, but he also said, "we got outshot 2-to-1 because we were outskated and outworked."

Forty seconds after Gagne put the Flyers up 2-1 at 16:42 of the second with a rebounder that went in off goalie Chris Osgood's shoulder, Blake tied it.

The goal came off a quick-moving give-and-go between Blake, Claude Lapointe and Steve Webb.

The Flyers tied it at 1 on a 4-on-4 in the second period when Roenick's slap shot from just inside the blue line nicked off the stick of Islanders defenseman Roman Hamrlik and went sailing through the legs of Osgood at 5:19.

New York took a 1-0 lead on Parrish's power-play goal with 36.9 seconds left in the first period. Alexei Yashin set it up with a precise, cross-ice pass that sliced across the goal mouth to meet Parrish, racing in from the right side.

"Games are becoming more difficult," Laviolette admitted. "Teams are ready to play us now. That's not an excuse. There's no excuse for tonight."

Osgood and Philadelphia counterpart Roman Cechmanek both had strong games, though Osgood was under far more pressure. Cechmanek made a sliding, combination kick and glove save to stop the first of three hard shots during a first-period power play. He finished with 18 saves.

Osgood made a quick glove save on an in-close shot by Roenick in the first and then stopped Primeau on another point-blank try in the second. He made 37 saves.

Notes:
Entering the game, the Flyers' power play had scored just 10 goals. Only Pittsburgh had fewer (nine) this season. ... The Islanders called up D Branislav Mezei to replace D Eric Cairns (strained stomach muscle). Shawn Bates remains out with a strained groin. ... In a physical game, Recchi was called for two minor penalties in the second period for hooking and unsportsmanlike conduct. Teammate Jan Hlavac was given a double-minor for high-sticking and causing a face cut to New York's Mats Lindgren.

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

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Author: 6 - ABC, Action News