UNIONDALE, N.Y. _ The Flyers know they have to overcome astronomical odds. They know that no team in NHL history has ever qualified for the playoffs when they faced a 16-point deficit at any point in a season.
Which is why they have had tunnel vision and haven't looked too far ahead.
"We just focus on the next game," left winger James van Riemsdyk said. "It's easier that way."
It was easy Saturday night as the Flyers defeated the New York Islanders at Nassau Coliseum, 5-2, and inched to within five points of a playoff spot with 14 games left.
Van Riemsdyk gave the Flyers the lead for good in the dying seconds of the first period, and Jake Voracek (two assists) and Nolan Patrick (13th goal) boosted the lineup while returning from injuries.
Brian Elliott (25 saves), Travis Sanheim (two assists, plus-4) and Ivan Provorov (plus-4) also played key roles for the Flyers, who won for the second time at Nassau since last Sunday, when they whipped the Islanders, 4-1. The Flyers scored a total of nine goals in the last two games against the Isles, who took the league's stingiest defense (2.36 goals per game) into Saturday.
Sean Couturier and Patrick scored 4:01 apart early in the second period to extend the Flyers' lead to 4-1.
Couturier, who leads the Flyers with 28 goals, took a drop pass from Voracek and scored on a one-time blast from the left circle with 18:26 left in the second. Patrick, after a great feed from Claude Giroux, scored from the slot to make it 4-1 with 14:25 left in the second.
Voracek missed the previous two games with an apparent knee injury; Patrick missed nearly two full games with a head injury.
Shortly after Patrick's goal, the Flyers killed off a five-on-three that last 1:34. Elliott, who made key stops on Adam Pelech and Anthony Beauvillier when the Flyers had a 3-1 lead, made four saves during those power plays. Hartman, with Elliott out of position, also appeared to save a goal as a shot bounced off his shoulder.
The Islanders managed just one shot while they had a two-man advantage.
Travis Konecny made it 5-1 when he scored from the left-circle with 2:34 remaining in the second. The three-on-one break was started by a defensive gem by Scott Laughton down the other end.
Islanders goalie Thomas Greiss, who began the night fourth in the NHL in both save percentage (.928) and goals-against average (2.22), allowed five goals on 15 shots and was replaced by Christopher Gibson to start the third period.
Van Riemsdyk and Ryan Hartman scored goals late in the first period to give the Flyers a 2-1 lead, wiping out a fluky Islanders tally.
Van Riemsdyk scored on a backhanded rebound of a shot taken by Voracek, giving the Flyers a 2-1 lead with 3.1 seconds to go in the first. It was his 20th goal and 14th in his last 25 games.
With 4:40 remaining in the first, Hartman's 11th goal this season and first as a Flyer knotted the score at 1-all. The goal, set up by Provorov's rush through traffic, was scored on Hartman's own rebound.
The Isles had taken a 1-0 lead when Scott Mayfield's point drive deflected off the stick of Flyers center Corban Knight and went past Elliott with 13:30 left in the first.
But after a slow start, the Flyers regained their footing and had the puck in the Islanders' end for a good portion of the opening period's last 10 minutes.
The rout was underway.
