The Flyers climbed into a tie with the Pittsburgh Penguins for second place in the Atlantic Division with a decisive 4-3 win over the lowly New York Islanders on Tuesday.

The Flyers got help from all over the board, including a league leading 20th goal, a first ever goal, and one of the best hits I’ve ever seen in person.

The Islanders opened up the scoring a little over nine minutes into the first period with a goal by Andy Hilbert. The Islanders’ center deflected a shot right in front of Flyers’ goalie Martin Biron for his seventh goal of the season.

Things looked like they were starting to fall apart a couple minutes later when Doug Weight made it a 2-0 game with a powerplay goal, only his sixth of the season. After Biron made two straights saves, Weight poked it past the Flyers’ netminder, giving credence to the third time is a charm cliche.

Down 2-0, including giving up a goal on their first penalty kill of the night, things were looking south for the boys in orange and black. They were in desperate need of a spark to get things going the other way.

Enter Riley Cote. Chasing down a long ice pass, Cote drilled Islanders’ leftwinger Jon Sim into the boards right behind New York’s goal. From my seats in the second row right behind the goal (I’m not trying to brag, just provide some perspecrive. OK, maybe I’m bragging a little), you could feel the force and the fury of the firey Cote. While getting back to his feat, Cote made a quick pass out front to Aaron Asham, who blew one past Yann Danis for his second goal of the season.

“Our line is the energy line. We were down 2-0 and we wanted to go out there and get a good offensive shift with some hits and good cycling,” said Cote. “It worked out where I was on the forecheck and I ended up getting a hit.  The puck just bounced right over to my stick. I tried to make the best play I could and it worked out.

“Just trying to create some energy and get the boys going,” Cote added. “We are just trying to give our goal scorers a rest and create some energy. If it isn’t a fight or a big hit, you just try to get a good cycle shift.”

After that goal, the Flyers were visibly rejuvinated, playing with added fire and aggressiveness. Despite going into the first intermission down 2-1, the Flyers clearly had the momentum.

They came out in the second period with just as much fire as they did in the second half of the first. Just over eight minutes into the period, Darrol Powe got his first NFL goal on a Mike Richards’ rebound, notching the game at 2-2.

Jeff Carter would add his league leading 20th goal of the season later in the period to put the Flyers up 3-2 to go into the second intermission. Carter, who scored on a Scottie Upshall rebound, did not score his 20 goal of the season last year until February 25.

Islanders’ winger Blake Corneau tied the game at three 2:17 into the third period on a weak goal past Biron. Skating down the rightside, Corneau let one loose from the faceoff circle that deflected off Flyers’ defenseman Lasse Kukkonen and got past the netminder. Despite the weak goal, Biron stopped 24 of the 27 shots he faced.

On the powerplay with just under nine minutes left to play in regulation, Richards was skating down the left side with the puck when he fed Simone Gagne just above the faceoff circle. Gagne lasered a one-timer past Danis for what would ultimately be the game winner. It was Gagne’s 14 goal of the season, a great sign for a guy who spent most of last year on the disabled list with concussions. Gagne is second in the league with a plus/minus rating of 17.

The Flyers are 10-1-3 in their last 14 games. They look to keep things going at home against the Carolina Hurricanes (I know, again) on Thursday.