It looked like Ilya Bryzgalov was on the verge of grasping his fourth straight shutout. He broke John Vanbiesbrouck’s for most straight shutout minutes, but the streak came to and end about 7 minutes into the third period. Still, he gave the Flyers (41-22-7) the 3-2 victory over the New York Islanders on Thursday night.
Bryzgalov turns away another Islanders' shot.
Zac Rinaldo scored on a difficult angle shot near the left-side boards. The shot bounced off the goaltender’s left pad and into the net to give Philly a 1-0 lead.
Claude Giroux scored at 13:26 with a one-timer off a pass from Jaromir Jagr. It marked his career-best 26th goal of the season. The Flyers led 2-0 after the first period.
Hartnell scored the only goal of the second at 7:02 mark. Kimmo Timonen chipped the puck, and Hartnell skated up the ice with a breakaway. He rocketed a shot past Nabokov for his 33rd of the season.
Michael Grabner ended the shutout with 6:30 left in the third. 35 seconds later, star forward John Tavares tallied the Islanders second goal. But the two quick goals did not fluster Bryz, and he led his team to their second straight victory. He stopped 29 of the 31 shots he faced.
The Flyers play the struggling Boston Bruins on Saturday. The Bruins have lost four straight including a loss against the Pittsburgh Penguins who are two points in front of the Flyers. Kimmo Timonen returned in the Flyers’ victory.
