Flyers Pummel the Islanders

Gloves were dropped and blows delivered twice in the first 21 seconds. James van Riemsdyk then delivered the knockout punch for the Philadelphia Flyers, who pounded the New York Islanders again.

Van Riemsdyk scored two goals in the first period and finished his first NHL hat trick in the third to help the Flyers remain alone atop the Eastern Conference with a 4-1 victory over the Islanders on Saturday night.

"Stuff like this is definitely pretty cool," said van Riemsdyk, a native of nearby New Jersey.

Jeff Carter staked the Flyers to the lead at 8:11, and van Riemsdyk made it 2-0 just 22 seconds later. Blake Comeau got the Islanders within a goal, but van Riemsdyk scored again before the period ended.

Van Riemsdyk's 19th of the season made it 4-1 at 9:15 of the third during a power play and gave him his first three-goal game in 145 career contests. Sergei Bobrovsky made 36 saves as Philadelphia tied the team mark with its 24th road win (24-9-4).

"They had a lot of shots, but most of them were from the outside," Flyers captain Mike Richards said. "The defense did a good job of clearing the second and third opportunities. Bob made a couple of big saves to keep the score at 2-0 and 3-1. It was a good game."

Philadelphia beat the Islanders for the fifth time this season and has won 20 of 21 meetings between the division rivals. Once Buffalo topped New Jersey, New York (29-35-12) was eliminated from postseason contention for the fourth straight year and fifth out of six since the NHL lockout.

"These last six games are still important," said Rick DiPietro, who made 18 saves. "It's important we keep playing and getting better. You just want to fast forward to October with everyone healthy."

The Flyers reached 100 points, keeping them ahead of the Washington Capitals and Pittsburgh Penguins. Philadelphia surely felt at home in this one as Nassau Coliseum was full of orange-and-black-clad Flyers fans, who loudly supported their team.