Laviolette's wake-up call is just in time for Flyers

UNIONDALE, N.Y. - Andreas Nodl was not supposed to be on the ice.

Now, after he killed three birds with one puck, Nodl has given coach Peter Laviolette something to think about.

With one flick of the wrist in the third period, Nodl not only created his third scoring streak of the season, but solved the Flyers' 2-for-44 power-play drought and allowed his team to escape embarrassment on Long Island by tying the game against the NHL's worst team.

Danny Briere scored less than 3 minutes after Nodl cashed in on the power play, giving the Flyers a 3-2, come-from-behind win at decrepit Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in a game they controlled for more than 55 minutes.

The win - paired with Saturday's 5-3 sacking of the Devils - wrapped up a four-point weekend for the Flyers, who regained a tie for the league lead in points after an 0-1-2 blip. It was the Flyers' 18th win in their last 19 games against the Islanders, who have lost 17 of their last 18 games overall.

It turns out that Nodl, who scored his first career power-play goal with just 3 seconds left on the man advantage, just snuck out on the ice at the end of a shift.

"He's pretty hot right now," Laviolette said of Nodl, who has seven goals and five assists in 19 games this season. "He had been playing well. It was the end of the power play. It was something that we had talked about. He's played terrific hockey for us."

Nodl's tally was the Flyers' response after what might have been their worst 36-second stretch of hockey this season. After holding a 1-0 lead through two periods, thanks to Matt Carle's first-period goal, the Flyers tried to sleepwalk through the final frame, with 7,773 fans at the quiet Coliseum snoozing along.

"It was one of those games that can put you to sleep," Laviolette said. "And we fell asleep. It was just sleepy at that point. It was still a 1-0 game, it was still a dangerous game."

Jon Sim changed that in a hurry 5 minutes, 12 seconds into the third period when he redirected P.A. Parenteau's point blast by Sergei Bobrovsky to tie the game. Laviolette immediately called a timeout and blasted his team with an expletive-laden tirade.

But the bleeding didn't stop there.

Frans Nielsen's weak shot just 36 seconds later trickled under Bobrovsky's armpit and into the net to give the Islanders a shocking 2-1 lead with 14:12 to play, making the danger of losing to the last-place Islanders very real.

If Laviolette was upset after the first goal, he was ready to explode after the second. His fury, with nearly visible steam shooting from his ears, was palpable, even from the press box.

"I was mad," he said. "It was a wake-up call. They should've been mad, too. We came out flat and let a team back in the game. After the second goal we started to press and play our game again."

"We took our foot off the gas pedal," Carle said.

"Coach yelled at us, for good reason," Nodl said. "We didn't play well at all. The yelling sparked us and then we started working and hitting and shooting. If we do that, then we're a tough team to beat."

If the Flyers don't hit, skate or shoot, they can be as average as the Islanders.

"That seemed to give us a little spark," Briere said of the timeout. "But that wasn't the game plan. We let them hang around and they started believing they could win."

It was the fourth time this season that Bobrovsky, who is now third in the NHL in wins with 14, entered the third period in search of his first career shutout but was denied.

"It's hard to say that I don't think about it," Bobrovsky said with the help of a translator. "I would definitely love for that to happen. In good time, hopefully it will."

More important, the Flyers' power play seemed like a different unit, just 1 day after going 0-for-3 against New Jersey. Carle's first-period goal came just 3 seconds after the Flyers' first power play expired, but it was essentially set up by their play with the man advantage.

"It was pretty much two power-play goals," Briere said. "The whole game, I thought the power play was just doing better, moving the puck, creating quality chances. I don't think it's where we want it, but it's an improvement."

The Flyers are 8-1-1 against Atlantic Division opponents, giving them the best points percentage among NHL teams against division foes . . . Matt Carle's goal was his first of the season. Sean O'Donnell and Oskars Bartulis are now the only two skaters on the active roster without a goal this season . . . Danny Briere also scored the game-winner on Saturday against New Jersey . . . Yesterday's game was the 400th of Mike Richards' career . . . The Flyers were outshot (30-27) for the first time in seven games and for just the second time in 12 games.

For more news and analysis, read

Frank Seravalli's blog, Frequent Flyers, at

http://go.philly.com/frequentflyers.

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http://twitter.com/DNFlyers.