Carter's OT Goal Lifts Flyers Over Isles

by: Derek Felix | Senior Writer - NY Sports Day | Friday, October 31, 2008



Jeff Carter’s overtime power play tally proved to be the difference in the Flyers’ 3-2 win over the Islanders Thursday night at Wachovia Center.

Twice, the Islanders rallied back from a goal deficit with Andy Hilbert notching his second with 7:20 remaining in regulation earning Scott Gordon’s club their first point in five (0-4-1). He got to a wide Andy Sutton shot and banked a shot off Flyer D Ossi Vaananen past Martin Biron tying it.

The Isles fell behind twice in the first period. First, it was Mike Knuble staying hot connecting for the fourth consecutive game when off a set play on a faceoff win, he one-timed a Simon Gagne feed past Joey MacDonald for his fifth at 7:45. All five have come during that span.

Less than three minutes later though, Islander team captain Bill Guerin knotted the score at one apiece on the power play by scoring in identical fashion off a Mark Streit pass for his third. Doug Weight added his club-leading sixth assist.

But 5:12 later, the Flyers struck again thanks to Carter’s first of a pair on the night when he redirected a Vaananen point shot past MacDonald restoring a one-goal lead.

Instead of getting down, the Isles picked up the play testing Biron by outshooting the Flyers 13-8 in the middle stanza. They continued to get chances in the third when ironically enough, the Flyer netminder stoned Hilbert on a point blank opportunity.

As fate would have it, he scored the tying goal on a more fortuitous bounce getting a deserved break. Mike Comrie also netted a helper.

Both teams had chances near the end of regulation to win it but each goalie was up to the task forcing the contest into OT where thanks to Kimmo Timonen’s holding minor at the buzzer, the Isles had a 4-on-3 to start with. However, it turned into a wasted chance due to too much passing on the perimeter and not enough shots with Biron able to see Guerin’s one-timer snatching it.

When it was over, the Isles continued to apply forecheck pressure but Frans Nielsen was nabbed for a holding call reaching his stick into a Flyer which was all it took to hand them a power play with just 76 seconds left.

On the four-on-three, the Flyers worked the puck around with Richards firing wide but with the help of Gagne, recovered it and eventually centered a pass through a maze of players which got to a wide open Carter who roofed one past MacDonald for his club-leading eighth ending the game with 22.9 seconds to go.

It was the only Philadelphia shot of the OT but was enough to give them their fourth win in a row.

Notes: Sutton returned after missing the Isles’ first eight immediately logging big minutes (21:13) on the blueline while registering his first point of the season. … Streit continues to be a workhorse getting over 28 minutes tallying an assist with four shots. The helper extended his point streak to four straight (3-3-6). … Isles outshot the Flyers 24-16 over the final 40 minutes in regulation. … Biron made 34 saves while MacDonald, who continued to sub for now IR’d starter Rick DiPietro turned aside 25 of 28. … With his first multi-goal game of the season, Carter extended his point streak to six (6-3-9). … Rookie D Luca Sbisa recorded an assist giving him five helpers in his first 10 NHL games. The 18 year-old from Italy was selected by the Flyers 19th overall this past summer. … Islanders (2-6-1, 5 Pts) return to Nassau Coliseum hosting Montreal tomorrow night where they’ll don their original dark blue jerseys.