The Philadelphia Flyers inched up the playoff ladder with a convincing 4-1 home win over the New York Islanders.

Philadelphia's third victory in a row enabled the Flyers to assume sole possession of seventh place in the Eastern Conference. They had been tied with the Boston Bruins.

Philadelphia also moved within two points of the sixth-placed New York Rangers, whom they visit on Tuesday. Only the top eight teams make the post-season.

Marty Biron and Danny Briere both played key roles in the victory over the Islanders.

Biron stopped 32 shots to gain his sixth consecutive win over the New York team. Briere had a three-point game as Philadelphia connected on three powerplay opportunities.

Vaclav Prospal, Briere's linemate, added two points, scoring the Flyers' opening goal off Briere's assist and assisting along with Briere on Scott Hartnell's third-period goal.

Braydon Coburn also scored for Philadelphia.

"Obviously, having the chance to play with Vinny there is a chemistry," Briere said after he and Prospal combined for their ninth goal and 11th assist in 13 games.

"Our line has found some chemistry and it is a lot of fun," Briere added. "Hopefully, we can give our team that little boost to make it into the playoffs."

Philadelphia converted on three of five powerplay chances, including a five-on-three for Prospal's goal.

"When you have a five-on-three, you have lots of time to position your player," Briere said. "I knew where (Prospal) was and it was just up to me to wait as long as I could to get into that good passing lane."

Biron had a shutout until the Islanders' Miroslav Satan scored a powerplay goal with 4:27 left in the game.

"I'm excited for Marty that he is gaining confidence as we move along," Flyers coach John Stevens said. "We have said all along if you are going to win this time of year you need really good goaltending, and Marty seems like he is getting more confident as we move along.

"It was a very solid outing by him, start to finish."

Reuters