Islanders beat Flyers for sixth straight win as they climb into playoff chase

PHILADELPHIA — There was neither artistry nor much offense. But there were another two points for the Islanders, now in the thick of the chase for an Eastern Conference wild-card spot.

The Islanders extended their season’s best win streak to six games by grinding out a 3-0 win over the slumping and sluggish Flyers to open a three-game road trip on Thursday night at Wells Fargo Center.

Things now get considerably tougher with a match against the perennially-contending Lightning on Saturday night and the defending Stanley Cup-champion Panthers less than 24 hours later.

Ilya Sorokin made 28 saves for his third shutout and 21st of his career.

The win allowed the Islanders (23-20-7) to leapfrog both the Flyers, who have lost four of five, and Rangers into fifth place in the Metropolitan Division. They were last in the division before the winning streak.

It completed a 9-3-0 month for the Islanders that stands as the organization’s best January record by percentage since 1983, per team statistician Eric Hornick.

The Flyers (23-24-6), dropping to 1-8-1 on the second nights of back-to-backs after a 5-0 road loss to the Devils last night, got 21 saves from Ivan Fedotov.

The teams split two games during the Islanders’ just-completed seven-game homestand (5-2-0) that saw Tony DeAngelo signed out of the KHL and fellow defenseman Scott Perunovich acquired from the Blues with Noah Dobson (lower body/long-term injured reserve) and Ryan Pulock (upper body/injured reserve) getting hurt and being sidelined indefinitely.

Maxim Tsyplakov was suspended three games for his high hit on the Flyers’ Ryan Poehling — who remains on injured reserve — in the Islanders’ 5-3 loss on Jan. 16 and Thursday marked the first time he’s faced the Flyers since then.

Scott Laughton dropped the gloves with the Russian rookie and won a one-sided fight at 4:51 of the first period.

That out of the way, the real first-period highlight came as the Islanders successfully killed off a four-minute high-sticking call on defenseman Adam Pelech — one of their top penalty killers — on Travis Konecny at 12:01. The Islanders, 20-of-21 on the penalty kill over 11 games, allowed just one shot to get through to Sorokin.

But coach Patrick Roy also got a save when he successfully challenged Morgan Frost interfered with Sorokin on Matvei Michkov’s apparent goal at 14:05. It was the second straight game Roy has won a challenge for goalie interference and the sixth time overall.

The Islanders then scored twice in the second period.

Simon Holmstrom, with his third goal in the last two games and 10th in his last 20 matches, lifted a wrister from the slot to open the scoring at 10:02. Rookie Marc Gatcomb, converting the feed from Kyle MacLean off the rush, notched his first career point in his seventh NHL game at 17:08.

Kyle Palmieri, with his first goal in 15 games, made it 3-0 at 9:53 of the third period with the teams skating four on four.

Notes & quotes: Rookie defenseman Isaiah George did not play a shift after 6:58 of the second period . . . The Flyers’ John Tortorella, 66, was behind the bench for his 1,600th game, becoming the first U.S.-born coach and seventh in NHL history to reach that milestone. He has also coached the Rangers, Lightning, Canucks and Blue Jackets in 23 seasons. TV cameras caught Tortorella and Michkov engaged in an angry discussion after Holmstrom’s goal . . . Forwards Pierre Engvall and Matt Martin and defenseman Dennis Cholowski remained healthy scratches.