Tuesday, April 09, 2013

Islanders continue surge to playoff spot by downing Flyers

Uniondale, NY -- John  Tavares and  Casey Cizikas scored 28 seconds  apart  late  in  regulation  to help  the  New  York  Islanders  down the Philadelphia Flyers, 4-1, at Nassau Coliseum on Tuesday night.

Matt Moulson and Michael Grabner also tallied, while Evgeni Nabokov stopped 26 shots  for the  Islanders, who surged to  their seventh win in their last nine contests.

New  York,  which hasn't seen  postseason hockey  since 2007, moved two points ahead of the idle Rangers into seventh place in the Eastern Conference.

"We  played like we wanted it more. I think that's why we got the two points," Nabokov  said.  "Everything is positive  right now,  but you can't get carried away because you know that it's such a fight for the playoffs with eight games left.  You can find yourself very quickly the other way. You just want to keep
the focus and intensity at the same level, win or lose."

Jakub  Voracek's first-period  strike was the sole offense for the Flyers, who have lost two in a row after winning four straight.

The Orange and Black are still five points out of a playoff spot, as the idle Rangers remained in eighth place in the East with 37 points.


Steve  Mason's first  Philadelphia start  didn't  go as  planned, despite  the former Columbus netminder stopping 28 pucks.

"It's frustrating," Flyers forward Scott Hartnell said. "You can't just expect to score one goal and win a game. You got to continue to push it. Mason played great for us. He was really solid back there."

Bad  luck  struck the  visitors  with  1:37  left  in regulation.  Mason  fell backwards  in his crease  to stop a Tavares chance, and the rebound kicked out to Moulson -- who completely missed the puck -- but the disc slid off the body of  defenseman Erik  Gustafsson and over the goal line with the score credited
to Tavares to make it 3-1.

"I just tried to get the rebound," Moulson said. "I didn't touch it. I kind of pushed Gustafsson toward the net and luckily it went off him and in."

Soon  after Mason was  pulled for an extra skater, Cizikas found the empty net to seal it for the hosts.

Voracek opened the scoring at 6:18 of the first period, taking a Claude Giroux lead  pass on  a breakaway and beating  Nabokov through the pads with the puck accompanying the Isles netminder as he slid backwards over the goal line.

"I tried to square [Nabokov] up and slide the puck past him," Voracek said. "I was  a little  lucky that it was early  in the period because if it was at the end of the period I don't think he would have slid in with it."

Moulson  evened the  score with 4:24 left  in the period, beating Mason to the short side from between the circles.

Mason  stopped Grabner from  the left side on a partial breakaway early in the second,  then  closed off the  left post  with his pad  on a clean Kyle Okposo break-in later in the period.

But  Grabner managed  to slip one home  from the right wing with 2:18 left and New York went to intermission up 2-1.

"I never saw it," Mason said, referencing an attempt by one of his defensemen, Luke Schenn, to block the shot which ended up providing a screen.

Notes: The  Islanders posted  their first home victory against the Flyers since a 6-4 decision on April 1, 2010, snapping a seven-game losing skid on Long Island to their  Quaker City  counterparts ...  Despite the  loss, Philly  is 15-3-0  at Uniondale  since  the start of  the 2007-08  season ... Tuesday marked Mason's
first  start  since March  29 at Calgary,  while he still  played for the Blue Jackets.

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