Eric Staal

Teams destined to miss the playoffs put on 60 minutes of hockey devoid of defense and chock full of a dominant performance by winger Wayne Simmonds in a 5-3 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday night.

18 shots in the first period for the Flyers proved the insignificant defensive pressure by the Hurricanes. In fact, Jakub Voracek almost scored within the first 10 seconds of the game forcing starter Justin Peters had to make a desperate save to keep the puck from crossing the goal line.

The New York Islanders went into tonight's game against the Carolina Hurricanes with the hopes of ending a four-game losing streak before heading back to Madison Square Garden on Thursday night for their Valentine's Day re-match with the New York Rangers. Despite ending their scoreless power play streak, the Islanders would add another tally to the loss column with a 6-4 defeat on home ice.

Frans Nielsen opened the scoring with a power play goal just 2:48 into the hockey game with assists coming from Josh Bailey and Travis Hamonic. But former Islanders Tim Wallace would tie the game a little over mid-way through the first period, sending both teams to their respective locker rooms in a draw.

The middle frame would prove to be a wild one. John Tavares scored the Isles second power play goal after jumping on a rebound in front. Matt Moulson and Lubomir Visnovsky earned the helpers. But Canes forward Jeff Skinner would knot it up at two less than 30 seconds later with a snap shot in the high slot that Rick DiPietro never saw.

Poor play in the third period almost cost the Flyers two points once again.

This time, Danny Briere came to rescue of those points, beating Cam Ward in overtime to send the Flyers to a 4-3 win over Carolina. It was their fourth straight game earning a point, going 3-0-1 on the four-game home stand.

It was also the second straight game the Flyers spend in overtime, having lost to the Panthers 3-2 in a shootout on Thursday.

The Flyers were able to end it before they got to the shootout this time. Briere broke into the zone and skated across the slot, faking a pass to Kurtis Foster before squeezing the wrister through Ward's legs to win the game.

(Picture: Matt Read celebrates after scoring in the second period. AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

The Flyers were a dismal 5-for-40 on the powerplay heading into the game, good for 24th in the league at 12.5%.

That number increased after the Flyers' offensive outburst with the man advantage and it helped them snap a three-game losing streak with their 5-3 win over the Carolina Hurricanes Saturday night.

The Flyers went 3-for-3 on the power play, by far their best special teams effort of the season.

(Pictured: Kurtis Foster celebrates after scoring the first goal of the game. Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)