Flyers 5, Islanders 2
NEW YORK -- The Philadelphia Flyers scored five unanswered goals between the first and third periods Sunday night as they prepared for the playoffs with a 5-2 win over the New York Islanders in the regular-season finale at Barclays Center.
The Flyers (41-27-14) were already locked into the Eastern Conference's second wild card and a quarterfinal-round matchup with the top-seeded Washington Capitals.
With the loss, the Islanders (45-27-10) enter the playoffs as the first wild card and will face the second seed, the Atlantic Division champion Florida Panthers.
Had the Islanders won, they would have leapfrogged the New York Rangers for third place in the Metropolitan Division and faced the Pittsburgh Penguins in the first round.
Five players -- Shayne Gostisbehere, Evgeny Medvedev, Michael Raffl, Scott Laughton and R.J. Umberger -- scored a goal apiece for the Flyers. Goalie Michal Neuvirth made 14 saves.
Nikolay Kulemin and Matt Martin scored in the first period for the Islanders. Thomas Greiss started in goal and made seven saves before giving way to Christopher Gibson, who recorded 15 saves and was saddled with the loss.
The game was a makeup of a tilt postponed by a blizzard on Jan. 23.
The Islanders locked up a postseason berth during a four-game winning streak last week in which they toppled the playoff-bound Panthers, Capitals, Rangers and Tampa Bay Lightning. The Flyers ensured nobody's fate would be on the line Saturday, when they clinched the second wild card by beating the Penguins 3-1.
As a result, Sunday's finale had a decidedly preseason feel to it, with stars from both sides scratched and the Islanders opening the game with the fourth-liner Martin skating on the first line and little-used enforcer Eric Boulton drawing time on the fourth line.
The teams combined for four goals in a 15-minute span in the first period.
Kulemin scored 5:58 into the game following a nifty sequence in which he faked out Flyers defenseman Brandon Manning, who lost his stick. Kulemin weaved through Manning, who flailed at the Islanders' left winger just before he backhanded a shot past Neuvirth.
Martin doubled the lead at the 9:19 mark. Ryan Pulock wound up as if he was going to take a slap shot before passing to Martin, who was wide open in front of the net. He fired into the open right corner of the net as Neuvirth was caught leaning left.
Gostisbehere pulled the Flyers within one just 1:56 later, when his shot from just inside the blue line sailed through a pack of five players in front of Greiss.
Medvedev tied the game with a 5-on-3 goal with 7.1 seconds left in the first period. After the Flyers won a faceoff deep in the Islanders zone, Medvedev fired a shot that went through the legs of Greiss and bounced off the top post.
Raffl gave the Flyers the lead 6:38 into the second, when he took a pass from Scott Laughton and sent a shot over the glove of Gibson.
NOTES: With the Islanders and Flyers having already clinched playoff spots, there were 18 total scratches -- 12 for the Islanders and six for the Flyers. Among the healthy scratches for the Islanders were D Nick Leddy and C Frans Nielsen, the team's only two players who were active for the first 81 games. ... RW Wayne Simmonds, who played in the first 81 games, was among the Flyers' healthy scratches. LW Michael Raffl was active, making him the only Philadelphia player to participate in all 82 games. ... The Islanders and Flyers made the playoffs in the same season for the first time since 2003-04 and the 18th time overall. The teams made the playoffs in the same season 14 straight times from 1974-75 through 1987-88.