Flyers hurt Islanders' playoff chances with win

PHILADELPHIA -- The Philadelphia Flyers helped their Stanley Cup Playoff chances with a 6-3 win against the New York Islanders at Wells Fargo Center on Thursday.
The Flyers (37-32-8) are six points behind the Boston Bruins for the second wild card into the playoffs from the Eastern Conference with five games remaining. The Bruins defeated the Dallas Stars 2-0 on Thursday.
"It's tough when you see everyone else is winning," Flyers forward Dale Weise said. "We're just trying to control what we can control and win out here. It's all you can do."

Sean Couturier and Wayne Simmonds each had a goal and two assists, and Weise had a goal and an assist for Philadelphia, which won its third straight game. Jordan Weal and Valtteri Filppula scored, Brayden Schenn had two assists, and Steve Mason made 38 saves.
WATCH: All Islanders vs. Flyers highlights
The Islanders (35-29-12), who lost their third straight game (0-3-0), also are six points behind the Bruins for the second wild card from the East.
Cal Clutterbuck, Jason Chimera and Andrew Ladd scored for New York. Jaroslav Halak made 19 saves in relief of starter Thomas Greiss, who allowed three goals on eight shots in the first 8:06 of the game.

The Flyers scored five goals in the first period, including three times in a 3:36 span. Weise finished a 2-on-1 rush with Couturier at 4:30, Couturier scored on a rebound of Brandon Manning's shot at 5:49, and Radko Gudas scored on a one-timer from the right point at 8:06.
"We had a great first period," Flyers coach Dave Hakstol said. "We were ready at the start and we got rewarded for it."
Halak replaced Greiss after Gudas' goal but Weal made it 4-0 at 9:19, and Simmonds made it 5-0 with a power-play goal at 15:42. It was Simmonds' 30th goal of the season.
Islanders coach Doug Weight was at a loss for how New York played in the first period.
"It's floating, not engaged with anything," he said. "Just floating through the [defensive] zone, floating through the neutral zone, and then all of a sudden we're like, 'Oh, we're in one here.' I wish I had more to tell you."

The Islanders responded by outshooting the Flyers 22-3 in the second period, but only had Clutterbuck's goal to show for it.
Chimera scored 40 seconds into the third period, and Ladd's shot deflected off Flyers defenseman Ivan Provorov, floated over Mason and rolled off his back to make it 5-3 with 3:58 left.
Filppula's empty-net goal at 18:19 made it 6-3.

"We did good things in the second and third period but the first period wasn't good at all," Islanders defenseman Johnny Boychuk said. "If you can take a positive out of the last two periods, bring it through tomorrow [against the New Jersey Devils] to start the game."

Goal of the game

Weise got a piece of Couturier's backhand centering pass and tipped it over Greiss.

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Saves of the game

During an Islanders power play in the third period, Ho-Sang found Anders Lee open in the slot but Mason stopped his initial shot at 9:17, then got his stick on the puck to deny Lee on the rebound.

Highlight of the game

Gostisbehere's slap shot on a late first-period power play went off Simmonds' right knee and deflected off Boychuk's hip past Halak.

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Unsung performance of the game

Provorov chipped a puck off the glass and out of the Flyers zone that allowed Schenn to spring Couturier on the odd-man rush.

They said it

"Hopefully playing tomorrow we have that feeling after being embarrassed today and blowing an opportunity to get two points." -- Islanders captain John Tavares
"We did this to ourselves. For us it's just try to win every single game and hopefully we can get some help. We're just going to continue to go at it and push our luck." -- forward Wayne Simmonds on the Flyers' playoff chances

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Need to know

Simmonds and Weise each had a Gordie Howe hat trick in the first period. Weise's took 8:28 to complete, fastest in Flyers history. ... Philadelphia last scored five goals in a period against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Jan. 12, 2015. ... Simmonds, who had 32 goals last season, is the first Flyers player with consecutive 30-goal seasons since center Jeff Carter in three straight seasons from 2008-11. ... Islanders defenseman Travis Hamonic sustained an upper-body injury in the first period. Clutterbuck's goal was his 100th in the NHL.

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What's next

Islanders: Host the New Jersey Devils on Friday (7:30 p.m. ET; MSG+, MSG+ 2, NHL.TV)
Flyers: Host the New Jersey Devils on Saturday (7 p.m. ET; CSN-PH, MSG+, NHL.TV)