Flyers outlast Islanders in frantic finish

The Flyers gave away toasters, blenders, refrigerators, and other assorted prizes on fan appreciation night at the Wells Fargo Center on Tuesday.

As an added bonus, they gave their fans their first victory over the New York Islanders this season.

In a wild finish that saw three goals scored in the final 1 minute, 44 seconds, Brayden Schenn won it by firing a shot from above the left circle that somehow beat goalie Jaroslav Halak with 2.1 seconds left, giving the Flyers a crazy 5-4 win over the dazed Isles.

Halak looked like Michael Leighton in Game 6 of the 2010 Stanley Cup Finals.

The Isles had tied it by scoring twice with Halak pulled late in the game.

"We got a lucky break there with Schenner putting it on the net, and anything can happen," said winning goalie Steve Mason, who stopped 36 of 40 shots and improved to 18-17-11. "You kind of feel bad for [Halak], being a fellow goaltender. It's got to be a pretty tough thing to swallow. It looked like he was tracking it, and went down in the normal butterfly, and fortunately for us it just found its way through his arm there."

With the final seconds ticking away, Schenn took a chip pass from Sean Couturier in the neutral zone, skated a couple of strides over the blue line and whipped a long shot through the legs of oncharging defenseman Travis Hamonic.

"I knew there wasn't a lot of time left and I just tried to get it on net," Schenn said after his fourth goal in the last four games. "Hamonic had his stick out there and I just tried to drag it around him. I'll definitely take a lucky one like that.

"You're not thinking that one's going in from that position on the ice, but you never know. That's what happens when you put pucks on the net."

The Flyers avoided being swept in a season series by the Islanders for the first time in history, and they prevented the visitors from clinching a playoff spot. The Isles would have clinched a spot if they picked up one point or Ottawa lost.

Ottawa overcame a three-goal deficit and stunned Pittsburgh in overtime, 4-3.

Claude Giroux scored two goals, Mark Streit equaled a career high with three assists, and Jake Voracek collected two assists.

With its goalie pulled, New York cut it to 4-3 as defenseman Johnny Boychuk scored on a screened shot with 1:44 remaining. Anders Lee, left alone in front, tied it with 28 seconds to go.

Voracek (81 points) remained in the thick of the NHL scoring race - two points behind Pittsburgh's Sidney Crosby and the Islanders' John Taveres, who had three points in the loss.

Streit became the first Flyers defenseman to reach the 50-point mark since Chris Pronger in 2009-10. Voracek increased his assist total to 59, tops in the NHL.

The Isles were trying to sweep the season series for the first time since they joined the league in 1972-73. They were also attempting to reach the 100-point mark for the first time since 1983-84.

The Flyers, who were coming off a 4-1 win over the Penguins, have points in seven straight games (4-0-3), and they are on a 12-1-4 run in games against teams in playoff position.

Giroux scored power-play and even-strength goals to give the Flyers a 2-0 first-period lead, and the cushion grew to 4-1 in the final period.

The Islanders cut the deficit to 4-2 when Lee scored his 24th goal, connecting on a long rebound, with 11:39 remaining. Two more late goals followed after the Flyers lost faceoffs.

"It's not the way we wanted to close it out," Mason said. "We would have liked it to be a little cleaner, but a win's a win."

The Flyers moved ahead of Columbus in the overall standings and now have the eighth spot in the draft lottery. If they stayed there, they would have a 6 percent chance at the No. 1 pick, Connor McDavid.