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UNIONDALE, N.Y. (AP) – These Philadelphia Flyers are not quite
as recognizable as last season's team, but they are playing just as
well.
There is no Eric Lindros or John LeClair but it didn't matter
against the New York Islanders on Wednesday night.
The Flyers' top line of Keith Primeau, Simon Gagne and Mark
Recchi contributed six points to help the Flyers move within two
points of the Atlantic Division lead with a 3-1 victory over the
Islanders.
"These guys are so easy to play with," said Primeau, who
assisted on goals by Recchi and Gagne. "Both of them are very
talented, and we work well as a unit."
The Flyers, who hadn't played since beating the Islanders last
Friday, came out hard and left the ice after 20 minutes with a 1-0
lead.
It was Rick Tocchet who got the goal, his 500th point with the
Flyers, at 4:42. Defenseman Ruslan Fedotenko, standing at the left
boards at center ice, backhanded a pass up the middle to a
streaking Tocchet, who broke in alone on goalie John Vanbiesbrouck.
Tocchet sent a 15-foot wrister low to the glove side.
"It was a great play by Fedotenko," Flyers coach Bill Barber
said. "We wanted to get an early jump. We did not want the
Islanders in this game, period."
The Flyers did more jumping in the second period, and emerged
with a 3-0 lead.
One second after a power play expired, Primeau tried to hit
Recchi with a cross-ice pass. The puck popped up, and as it was
coming down, Recchi struck it past Vanbiesbrouck at 7:24.
"I just whacked at it," Recchi said. "We were at the end of a
power play and we were tired. I was lucky to get that."
Gagne's goal, his team-leading 24th, came off a turnover by
Islanders center Tim Connolly. Primeau found Gagne streaking in on
the left side, and beat Vanbiesbrouck with a wrist shot that made
it over the goalie's pad at the short side.
It was the last shift of the game for Connolly.
"If we're not going to learn, we might as well do something,"
Islanders coach Butch Goring said of the benching. "It might be
worth short-term pain for some long-term gain."
The Islanders played a better third period and scored their only
goal when Jason Blake beat goalie Roman Cechmanek with a left side
looping wrist shot at 5:15. It would be the only puck they would
put in the net all night.
"Even after they got that goal, we stayed patient," Recchi
said. "We played smart, good team hockey tonight."
Primeau said that team management was right in making a coaching
change to Barber from Craig Ramsay, even if the timing was odd,
since the Flyers were over .500 at the time.
"We've come a long way because we struggled at the start of the
year," Primeau said. "The coaching change seemed like a bad idea
at the time, but management realized even then that we were better
than a .500 team."
New York has lost six straight (0-5-0-1), and already had losing
streaks of eight (0-7-0-1) and seven games (0-7-0-0) earlier this
season. The Islanders' 14-35-5-3 record is the worst in the NHL.
"I've been through this with an expansion team before,"
Vanbiesbrouck said of his time with the Florida Panthers. "With
new ownership here, it's Year One of commitment and the perception
of commitment. It takes its toll on your attitude. You think you
have a good one, and then reality sets in."
Game notes
Connolly had only 8:50 of ice time over the first two
periods. ... This is the second of three straight home games
against Philadelphia for the Islanders. Conversely, this is the
second of three consecutive road games to Long Island for the
Flyers. ... Philadelphia improved to 7-7 when wearing its black
road uniforms. ... The Flyers last loss on Long Island was Nov. 25,
1998, going 4-0-1 there since then.
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ALSO SEE
NHL Scoreboard
Philadelphia Clubhouse
NY Islanders Clubhouse
RECAPS
Detroit 4
Carolina 3
Florida 4
Phoenix 3
Ottawa 3
New Jersey 2
Philadelphia 3
NY Islanders 1
Pittsburgh 2
Minnesota 1
Columbus 2
Toronto 2
San Jose 7
Chicago 0
Dallas 4
Los Angeles 2
Washington 4
Vancouver 3
Edmonton 3
Anaheim 3
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Keith Primeau connects with Simon Gagne, who scores on a wrist shot.
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