Two seasons ago, the Isles had their way with the Flyers, winning 6 of 8, including the final 5. This season was payback time. On to the trick:
1. The Flyers completed a sweep of the season series with thier 3-2 win. The Isles managed two loser points in the series.
2. Sean Bergenheim scored to give the Isles a 1-0 lead after 1. It was Bergenheim's 15th goal of the season, equalling his career total in 124 games prior to this season.
3. Joffrey Lupul and Mike Knuble scored power play goals 5:47 apart in the second period to give the Flyers the lead. Lupul's goal was his 25th; the Flyers are the only NHL team with six players with at least twenty-five goals.
...a few more...
4. Tim Jackman tied the game later in the 2nd period, but the deadlock lasted only 52 seconds, before Simon Gagne scored the game's final, and game-winning goal.
5. The Isles have been burned on the power play countless times in recent games; they've allowed 13 goals their last 30 times short.
6. It's the 10th straight Flyer win over the Islanders, and the 12th straight for Marty Biron. Biron finished with 30 saves, six more than Yann Danis.
7. Mark Streit played in his team-leading 74th game. He and Richard Park are the only Isles to have appeared in at least 70 games. Tim Jackman, who didn't start the season with the team, has the longest current consecutive game streak; he's played all 68 games since his recall -- one more than Josh Bailey.
8. The game was announced as a sellout. It was the 7th sellout of the season. The Isles are 2-4-1 in home sellouts -- all but the Opening Night sellout came against Atlantic Division foes.
9. Kyle Okposo played 22:01 in his return to the line-up. He leads the team with 18 goals (two more than Streit and three more than Bergenheim). He will score fewer goals than any Isle goal scoring leader in club history (Palffy 22 in 1998-99) and could become only the third rookie to lead the Isles in goal-scoring outright (Billy Harris and Mike Bossy are the others; Trent Hunter tied for the club lead in his rookie year).
10. Up next: the Isles complete their 36th National Hockey League season when they entertain the Conference Champion Boston Bruins. The Bruins mailed-in game #81 this afternoon, losing to Buffalo 6-1, and costing them any chance at the President's Trophy. The Islanders will be looking to avoid the first-ever season-ending 4-game losing streak in club history. Face-off for the first ever originally scheduled Easter Sunday regular season game at the Coliseum is at 5:00. The Isles hosted regular season games on Easter Sunday in 1978 and 1995, but they were the result of a blizzard and the lock-out, respectively.
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