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Flyers Break Five-Game Losing Streak With 6-2 Win
(Sports Network) - A visit by the New York Islanders proved to be the remedy Philadelphia needed to put the brakes on a five-game losing streak.
Mike Richards netted a short-handed goal and scored on the power play, while Jeff Carter and Claude Giroux also tallied twice to help the Flyers take a 6-2 decision at Wachovia Center and give Peter Laviolette his first win as head coach.
Brian Boucher made 22 saves for Philadelphia, which has won 12 straight against its Atlantic Division rivals.
Although Philadelphia won for just the second time in its last 10 outings -- with both victorious coming against the Isles -- the club did lose the services of No. 1 goaltender Ray Emery for the foreseeable future. Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren announced Emery is expected to miss a minimum of six weeks following surgery to repair a torn muscle in his lower abdominal wall. The operation will be performed Wednesday.
Rookie John Tavares had a pair of power-play tallies for the Islanders, who fell to 1-3-0 on a five-game road trip that concludes Wednesday in Toronto. Martin Biron allowed six goals on 37 shots in defeat.
Islanders defenseman Brendan Witt played despite being hit by a truck Tuesday morning while crossing a street in downtown Philadelphia. No stranger to the rough stuff, the gritty Witt was out to pick up coffee when a truck made an illegal left turn and struck the veteran rearguard.
Richards opened the scoring on the power play, drifting to the side of the net and redirecting Kimmo Timonen's point shot at the 9:47 mark of the first period. He then fired a quick shot past Biron with 4:46 remaining in the opening frame and teammate Danny Briere in the penalty box for elbowing.
It was 3-0 at 4:21 of the second period when Carter scored with the man advantage. Carter cradled a Briere feed at the side of the enemy cage and ripped a shot that squeezed under the right arm of Biron as he tried to seal off the post.
After Carter made it 4-0 nearly three minutes later, Philadelphia was whistled for four consecutive penalties and the teenaged Tavares registered back-to- back power-play goals to cut the deficit in half.
This year’s top overall pick put New York on the board at 10:52 of the middle stanza, then was on the doorstep to tuck in a rebound with 5:05 remaining in the period.
Giroux restored a three-goal edge for the home team, one-timing Richards' pass behind Biron with 2:31 to play in the second and Philadelphia on a power play. Giroux tipped in a Scott Hartnell feed at 2:35 of the third period for a 6-2 Flyers advantage.
Briere, Timonen and Hartnell each collected two assists...The six goals matched a season-high for the Flyers...Kyle Okposo had two helpers for New York...Tavares leads all first-year players with 13 goals and 24 points...Philadelphia had been outscored 19-5 over its five-game slide...The Islanders were the last Eastern Conference team not to have yielded a short- handed goal this season...The Flyers have won eight straight over New York at home...Philadelphia improved to 12-4-1 when scoring first...The Flyers host Ottawa on Thursday.
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