(Kate Frese/SB Nation)
The Philadelphia Flyers inched closer to a playoff spot with a crucial win over the New York Islanders thanks to a second period surge.
By Dan Heaning, Sports Talk Philly staff writer 
After a lousy outing against the Pittsburgh Penguins, the Philadelphia Flyers needed a win against another division foe to inch themselves back into the playoff hunt. Thanks to a four-goal second period, Philadelphia did just that with a 6-4 victory.
Despite controlling the territorial play in the opening frame, the Orange and Black entered the second stanza tied at one. However, the Flyers broke the game open with two goals in forty seconds to begin the second period.
After narrowly keeping the puck in the zone, Shayne Gostisbehere set Ivan Provorov up for a shot from the point which Michael Raffl deflected over Islanders goaltender Thomas Greiss' glove to give Philadelphia a 2-1 lead.
Soon afterward, a great shift by the Jordan Weal, Nolan Patrick and Wayne Simmonds line was capped off with a goal by Simmonds to make it 3-1. Simmonds was able to find a Robert Hagg point shot that hit traffic in front of the net and beat Greiss before he could recover.
Just over four minutes later, Provorov would get a goal of his own after a nifty pass by Patrick. Provorov's shot from the high slot would sail through the traffic in front while a screened Greiss was left helpless to find it.
After the Islanders made it 4-2, Travis Konecny would kill any hopes for a comeback for New York. After the Islanders turned the puck over in the neutral zone, Sean Couturier found a streaking Konecny with a high pass. Konecny got behind the New York defense and skated in all alone, took the shot from between the circles and beat Greiss above his blocker to make it 5-2.
The Flyers had to survive a third period rally by the Islanders, Ryan Pulock pulled New York within one after he was able to bounce his shot off Brian Elliott's shoulder and in. Pulock was able to get in deep thanks to a neutral zone turnover and after he froze Hagg with a fake shot at the blue line.
Down 5-2, John Tavares tallied on the power play to bring the Islanders within two. His shot from the right circle could not be found by Flyers goaltender Elliott after Anders Lee provided the screen.
Provorov iced the game with an empty net goal and his second of the evening after Claude Giroux had an adventure trying to score on the empty net himself.
The Flyers opened the scoring with a power play goal by Couturier. The point shot from Jake Voracek seemed to be aimed for Simmonds, who was also in front of the net, but Couturier managed to get a piece of the ice level shot and send it above the blocker of Greiss.
The Islanders had a pretty sorry first period, but they managed to escape it with the score knotted up at one. That's because Cal Clutterbuck was able to get a deflection goal of his own. After Clutterbuck's shot off the rush hit the post and circled back to the point, Dennis Seidenberg took a shot which hit Clutterbuck's knee and squeezed between the pads of Elliott.
Clutterbuck scored the second New York goal as well. After going 18 games with a tally, managed to collect his second marker after the Flyers turned over the puck in the neutral zone and Elliott let the Shane Price shot escape his glove. Clutterbuck deposited the rebound to make it to cut the Flyers lead to 4-2.
Philadelphia will continue their homestand as they begin a weekend of contests when they faceoff against the St. Louis Blues at 1 p.m. from the Wells Fargo Center.
Box Score
| 1 | 2 | 3 | T | |
| Flyers | 1 | 4 | 1 | 6 |
| Sabres | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
Scoring Summary
1st Period
- PHI- Sean Couturier (19, 8:38) from Jake Voracek (39) and Claude Giroux (34) (PP)
- NYI – Cal Clutterbuck (5, 15:37) from Nick Leddy (21) and Dennis Seidenberg (4)
2nd Period
- PHI- Michael Raffl (7, 1:36) from Ivan Provorov (11) and Shayne Gostisbehere (22)
- PHI- Wayne Simmonds (13, 2:16) from Robert Hagg (5) and Jordan Weal (7)
- PHI- Ivan Provorov (6, 6:24) from Nolan Patrick (6) and Brandon Manning (5) (PP)
- NYI – Cal Clutterbuck (5, 12:26) from Shane Prince (1) and Dennis Seidenberg (4)
- PHI- Travis Konecny (5, 13:56) from Sean Couturier (19)
3rd Period
- NYI – John Tavares (22, 6:02) from Nick Leddy (22) and Mathew Barzal (24)
- NYI – Ryan Pulock (3, 14:35)
- PHI- Ivan Provorov (6, 6:24) from Claude Giroux (35) and Jake Voracek (40) (PP) (ENG)
Game Statistics
| Flyers | Islanders | |
| Shots | 32 | 31 |
| Power Plays | 2/5 | 1/1 |
| Hits | 23 | 23 |
| Faceoff % | 50% | 50% |
| Giveaways | 10 | 8 |
| Takeaways | 7 | 7 |
| Blocked Shots | 17 | 17 |
| Penalty Minutes | 29 | 37 |
