Blake tallies hat trick, Hunter caps wild Isles win

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02/28/2007 - Uniondale, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Trent Hunter's second goal of the game, coming with 31 seconds left in overtime, sent the New York Islanders past the Philadelphia Flyers, 6-5, at Nassau Coliseum.

Jason Blake recorded a hat trick and one assist for the Islanders, winners in five of their last six games. Chris Simon also scored, while Randy Robitaille collected three assists and Mike Sillinger added two assists of his own.

Rick DiPietro stopped 29 shots to earn the victory.

R.J. Umberger tallied twice for the Flyers, who have dropped five straight. Dimitry Afanasenkov had a goal and an assist, Sami Kapanen and Simon Gagne scored, and Joni Pitkanen picked up a pair of helpers.

Antero Niittymaki played well despite giving up six goals on 39 shots in the loss.

Late in overtime, and already on the power play, the Islanders were about to go up by two men when Sillinger held in the left circle before feeding in the slot to Hunter, who redirected the puck into the top corner of the net.

The win vaulted the Isles into seventh spot in the Eastern Conference playoff race, pulling them even with Montreal, which lost to the Rangers, and moving one point ahead of Carolina, which fell to Ottawa.

Down by two goals heading into the final 20 minutes of play, the Flyers showed some uncharacteristic grit and rallied to come within 5-4 on Umberger's second goal of the night at the 8:12 mark.

Gagne completed the long comeback with his 35th goal of the year on a rising backhander from a tangle of bodies at the left side of the crease 55 seconds later, and each side survived some close calls before the game slipped into the extra session.

New York took an early 1-0 lead as Chris Campoli's blistering one-timer from the high slot tipped off Blake and sailed past a screened Niittymaki just 2:10 into the contest. Blake made it 2-0 at 8:34 when he followed up Robitaille's breakaway chance by barreling into the crease and shoving the loose puck into the net.

Umberger countered at 13:42 to bring the Flyers within 2-1, but Hunter restored the Isles' two-goal advantage 20 seconds later when he stashed home his own rebound.

Blake ended a lopsided first period for New York and finished his trifecta by stealing the puck from Kapanen deep in the Flyers' defensive zone, moving to the backhand and slipping the puck inside the far post with 14.7 seconds remaining.

Kapanen atoned for his mistake and brought the Flyers within 4-2 with 2:48 played in the second, as his point blast caught Campoli's jersey and deflected past DiPietro.

However, Blake and Robitaille teamed up with renowned tough-guy Simon to increase New York's lead to 5-2 at 6:20, then Simon squared off with the Flyers' Todd Fedoruk in a spirited bout immediately following his goal.

Philly forward Darren Reid and Islanders enforcer Arron Asham tussled a mere five seconds later, and the fisticuffs re-energized the visitors, who cut the deficit to 5-3 when Afanasenkov was left all alone in front to tuck a shot through DiPietro's pads at 7:10.

Game Notes

The Isles have won four of the six meetings this season...New York is 5-1-0 on their current seven-game homestand...Ryan Smyth, acquired on Tuesday from Edmonton, was not in the lineup for the Isles...The Flyers did not have the services of goaltender Martin Biron, acquired before the trading deadline on Tuesday -- he will join the club on Thursday when they play in Boston. However, defenseman Braydon Coburn, acquired from Atlanta on Monday, and backliner Lasse Kukkonen, acquired from Chicago also on Monday, were in the lineup...Kukkonen recorded an assist in his first game in a Flyers uniform...The Flyers fell to 2-5 in overtime, and the Islanders improved to 8-4 in the extra period.

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Green's comment came in a statement released by the team following an ESPN report that Green decided that rookie Matt Leinart would replace Warner as starter for Sunday's game at Atlanta.

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A two-time Pro Bowler, Green was going into a feet-first hook slide when he was knocked unconscious by a thunderous, head-snapping hit from Cincinnati's Robert Geathers.

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Alex Smith completed 27-of-46 passes for 293 yards with a touchdown. Michael Robinson rushed for 29 yards and a pair of touchdowns on five carries.

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