UNIONDALE, N.Y. — James van Riemsdyk had a goal and an assist, helping the Philadelphia Flyers to a 5-2 win over the New York Islanders on Saturday night.
Ryan Hartman, Sean Couturier, Nolan Patrick and Travis Konecny also scored for Philadelphia. Brian Elliott made 25 saves for his 10th victory of the season.
The win was the Flyers’ second over the Islanders in less than a week and helped Philadelphia inch closer to the final wild-card spot. They are five points behind Carolina, which played at Nashville later Saturday, Montreal — which hold wild-card spots in the Eastern Conference.
Scott Mayfield and Nick Leddy scored for New York, and Thomas Greiss made 10 saves but gave up all five of the Flyers’ goals in 39:56 of action. Christopher Gibson made his first appearance since Dec. 6 in relief of Greiss in the third period and stopped 10 shots.
The Islanders remained two points behind Washington for the Metropolitan Division lead. New York has struggled in its last five games, going 2-3-0 since defeating the Toronto Maple Leafs 6-1 on Feb. 28.
Van Riemsdyk scored with 3.1 seconds left in the first period to break a 1-1 tie. The Flyers forward was left alone in front of the net to clean up a puck that was initially stopped by Greiss.
Philadelphia extended its lead to 3-1 at the 1:34 mark of the second period. Couturier fired a hard shot from the top of the left faceoff circle for his 28th goal of the season.
The Flyers made it 4-1 when Patrick scored at 5:35 of the second. Konecny’s goal at 17:26 put Philadelphia up 5-1.
Leddy scored to cut the Flyers’ lead to 5-2 with 3:32 remaining in the game.
Mayfield gave the Islanders a 1-0 lead at the 6:30 mark of the first period after his shot was deflected into the net by the stick of Corban Knight. The goal was Mayfield’s first since Nov. 18 against Dallas.
The Flyers evened the score on Hartman’s goal at 15:20 of the first. Ivan Provorov threw the puck at the net and Hartman was able to push the rebound by Greiss.
Islanders defenceman Johnny Boychuk left early after being hit up high by Flyers forward Jakub Voracek. Boychuk was down on the ice for several minutes before he went to the team dressing room.
THE ARCHITECT
The Islanders honoured their late Hall of Fame general manager Bill Torrey before the start of the game. Members of Torrey’s family were on hand for a ceremonial puck drop and a tribute video was played in his honour.
Torrey died on May 2, 2018, at his home in South Florida at the age of 83.
He developed the Islanders into a dynasty that won four consecutive Stanley Cups from 1980-83.
NOTES: Flyers G Carter Hart missed his sixth straight game. Flyers coach Scott Gordon told reporters that Hart was healthy. The Flyers goaltender missed the previous five games with a lower-body injury. … Islanders F Cal Clutterbuck missed his third consecutive game with an upper-body injury. Clutterbuck was injured last Sunday in the Islanders’ 4-1 loss to Philadelphia. … The Flyers made their second appearance of the season at the Nassau Coliseum on Saturday. Philadelphia has played four regular-season or preseason games against the Islanders at the Nassau Coliseum since the building was reopened in 2017, the most for any team in the NHL. … The Islanders scratched D Thomas Hickey, D Luca Sbisa, D Dennis Seidenberg, F Andrew Ladd and F Ross Johnston. … The Flyers scratched D Samuel Morin and D Andrew MacDonald.
UP NEXT
Islanders: Host Columbus on Monday night at Nassau Coliseum.
Flyers: Host Ottawa on Monday night.
Christian Arnold, The Associated Press