PHILADELPHIA _ The Flyers ended a long drought without a goal Thursday night, but that was the extent of the good news they created at the Wells Fargo Center.
New York Islanders 3, Flyers 1.
Facing an Islanders team that had allowed five goals in each of its previous three games, the Flyers dominated the first period but were outplayed during the final 40 minutes.
It was not a good recipe for success.
The loss, coupled with Boston's win over San Jose, put the Bruins into the Eastern Conference's second wild-card spot. The Flyers slipped out of a playoff spot for the first time since Jan. 21.
The Flyers have lost three straight, during which they have managed a total of one goal.
One.
The Flyers are 1-2-1 on their season-high five-game homestand, which ends Saturday afternoon against San Jose.
Fourth-line center Casey Cizikas flubbed his first shot, then put the next one past a seemingly startled Steve Mason to put the Islanders ahead, 3-1, with 18:39 left in the third period.
The Islanders, on a 9-2-2 run, controlled most of the second period and took a 2-1 lead when Jason Chimera knocked a bouncing puck past Mason with 17:47 left in the stanza.
Andrew Ladd put a slick pass past defenseman Radko Gudas and onto the stick of Chimeras in front, and he deposited his seventh goal in the last 13 games.
At one point, the Islanders had a 13-2 shots domination in the second before the Flyers, sparked by the Pierre-Edouard Bellemare-centered fourth line, took the last five shots of the period.
The Flyers' scoreless drought ended at 134 minutes, 56 seconds when Wayne Simmonds knocked in a rebound of a shot taken by Shayne Gostisbehere with 7:53 left in the first period. The power-play goal gave the Flyers a 1-0 lead, and marked just the fourth time in the last 18 games they had scored first.
"That's hard work in front of the net," said Brayden Schenn, who was also trying to poke the rebound past goalie Thomas Greiss. "That's the greasy one we were looking for."
"I just kept whacking at it and it finally went in," Simmonds said after collecting his 22nd goal, tops the team.
At one point, the Flyers they had a 15-3 shots advantage in the first period, but the Islanders _ who were dominant in the faceoff circle all night _ tied it with a power-play goal of their own.
John Tavares fired a nasty, right-circle wrist shot into the left corner of the net, knotting the score at 1-1 with 3:20 to go in the first.
The Islanders had lost a pair of 3-2 decisions to the Flyers earlier in the season _ one in a shootout, the other in overtime.
They moved to within one point of the Flyers and have three games in hand.
