Lecavalier helps Flyers break offensive funk in win over Isles
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Uniondale, NY (SportsNetwork.com) - Vincent Lecavalier's hat trick and 26 saves by Steve Mason fueled Philadelphia's 5-2 victory over the New York Islanders at Nassau Coliseum.
Jakub Voracek and Matt Read added tallies for the Flyers, who snapped a franchise-worst streak of nine straight games from the start of a season without scoring more than two goals.
"We have to keep pushing, try to go on a streak here and just keep playing the same way," said Lecavalier.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Claude Giroux posted two helpers, as did Mark Streit in his return to Long Island.
Kyle Okposo and Frans Nielsen supplied the offense for the Islanders, who suffered a letdown following Friday's 4-3 road win over Metropolitan Division leading Pittsburgh.
"It is tough when you dig yourself a hole. It is tough to come back, especially when you did it the night before. We were not good enough throughout the game," said Islanders center John Tavares.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Kevin Poulin allowed four scores on 31 shots in his first appearance since Oct. 11.
Lecavalier capped his trifecta with hard work in the New York zone to give his club a 4-2 lead.
During a rush on the right wing, he dove forward to keep the puck alive. It found Max Talbot, who dished to Giroux on the left wing, and his shot was left open for Lecavalier's poke into an open cage with 8:53 gone in the third.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Okposo rang a shot from the right circle off the crossbar with 3:20 on the clock and the Isles on the power play, and that proved to be the hosts' last best chance to draw closer.
Read hit the empty net on a long, rolling shot with 1:32 to play which put the exclamation point on the Flyers' first road win of the year and first two-game win streak.
The game's first power play went to Philadelphia, as did the game's first goal. Streit held the puck at the point and dished into the right circle, where Lecavalier's blast caromed off an Isles defender and in at 4:30.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}It was 2-0 for the visitors when Voracek chased down a pass from Brayden Schenn on the right wing, cut to the slot and slid a shot by Poulin 60 seconds later.
Okposo's blast from below the circles was deflected off a stick in front and made it 2-1 at 10:16, but Lecavalier restored Philly's two-goal edge with 1:47 before intermission by knocking home his own rebound from atop the crease.
Nielsen finished off an odd-man short-handed rush alongside Peter Regin by beating Mason on a successful backhander with 9 1/2 minutes left in the second.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Game Notes
Lecavalier posted his first multi-goal effort since Nov. 17, 2011 for Tampa Bay against Pittsburgh, and his first three-goal game since Mar. 11, 2008 for the Bolts against the Islanders. The former No. 1 draft pick has seven lifetime hat tricks ... The Flyers have won 15 of their last 17 games in Uniondale ... Philly last registered more than two goals during a 5-2 win vs. Boston on Apr. 23, 2013, a span of 12 regular-season tilts ... The Islanders welcomed back forward Michael Grabner, having served his two-game suspension for an illegal hit on Carolina's Nathan Gerbe ... Flyers forward Scott Hartnell saw his first action since Oct. 11 ... New York carried the best power play in the NHL (30.3 percent) coming into the game, but came up empty on three chances.