A few weeks ago, the Eastern Conference Playoff race seemed as crowded as possible. Only a handful of points separated teams in the last few spots from those at the bottom of the conference.

Ilya Sorokin made 23 saves for his third shutout of the season, Marc Gatcomb scored his first NHL goal and the New York Islanders won their sixth straight game with a 3-0 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday night.

The New York Islanders (22-20-7) dug deep. They won their fifth game in a row, closing out a very successful homestand with an emphatic third period against the Colorado Avalanche (29-21-2).

Simon Holmstrom scored twice and added an assist, and Ilya Sorokin made 30 saves to lead the New York Islanders to a 5-2 win over the Colorado Avalanche on Tuesday night

Tyson Foerster scored the lone goal for Philadelphia as the Flyers fall to the New York Islanders 3-1 Friday night.

NEW YORK (AP) — Simon Holmstrom scored twice and added an assist, and Ilya Sorokin made 30 saves to lead the New York Islanders to a 5-2 win over the Colorado Avalanche on Tuesday night.

NEW YORK (AP) — Simon Holmstrom scored twice and added an assist, and Ilya Sorokin made 30 saves to lead the New York Islanders to a 5-2 win over the Colorado Avalanche on Tuesday night.

Ilya Sorokin made 23 saves for his third shutout of the season, Marc Gatcomb scored his first NHL goal and the New York Islanders won their sixth straight game with a 3-0 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday night.

Ilya Sorokin made 24 saves to help the New York Islanders win their sixth straight game, 3-0 against the Philadelphia Flyers at Wells Fargo Center on Thursday. Ivan Fedotov made 25 saves for Philadelphia (23-24-6),

As the NHL season progresses, two unexpected contenders have emerged in the Eastern Conference playoff race: the New York Islanders and the Columbus Blue Jackets. Both teams are making strong pushes to secure postseason berths, defying preseason expectations and injecting excitement into their respective fan bases.

But when a stretch of eight Metropolitan Division games out of nine ended on Thursday night, the Flyers’ 3-0 loss to the visiting New York Islanders left Philadelphia’s record at 3-4-1 for that key segment.

Marc-Andre Fleury made 19 saves for his first shutout of the season in likely his final game in Montreal, helping the Minnesota Wild beat the Canadiens 4-0 on Thursday night. The 40-year-old Fleury, from Sorel-Tracy about 50 miles northeast of Montreal,