DiPietro, Islanders Blank Last-Place Flyers

Rick DiPietro made 27 saves in his fifth shutout of the season and Islanders finally figured out the Philadelphia Flyers at home with a 2–0 victory last night.

DiPietro, 4–0–2 in his past six starts, turned aside some challenging shots but wasn't really tested in posting his 11th NHL shutout. The Islanders stretched their point streak to a season-high eight games (5–0–3) and moved within two points of Carolina, the eighth-place team in the Eastern Conference.

Knocking off the Flyers at Nassau Coliseum has turned into as tough a task as any for the Islanders. New York won both matchups in Philadelphia this season — where the Flyers have won only three times — but dropped two on home ice, joining Atlanta as the only teams to lose multiple games to them this season.

Viktor Kozlov scored in the first period and Miroslav Satan doubled the lead in the second. That was enough to break the Islanders' four-game, home-losing streak to the Flyers — 14–4–1–1 in their past 20 trips to Long Island.

Philadelphia had earned points in a season-high four straight games, but fell behind early this time.

Tom Poti took a pass from Jeff Tambellini and skated quickly down the slot — drawing goalie Antero Niittymaki out of position when he slid the puck to Kozlov. The forward deftly backhanded a shot from the bottom of the left circle, a backhanded drive from a bad angle that clanked off the crossbar and in for his 19th goal at 8:13.