Tying goal, shootout winner -- and a rare fight for Kyle Okposo

Kyle Okposo got mad, so he got in a fight for the first time in the regular season in his 369-game career.

He had the tying goal with 2:58 to go, an assist on John Tavares' second-period goal and the fight -- a Gordie Howe hat trick. He also had the shootout winner, so perhaps there's a different catchy name for doing all four of those things in the same game.

Okposo fought Braydon Coburn at 12:03 of the first period after Coburn slashed him on the wrist. That was the second Flyers stick play on Okposo in as many games after he was speared in the groin by Adam Hall on Saturday.

"[Coburn] whacked me on the wrist and I was just standing there," Okposo said. "I just didn't like it."

He didn't like the spear on Saturday, either, but later spoke with Hall, who was contrite. "He said he didn't think he got his stick up that high," Okposo said. "I wasn't still mad about that."

Okposo fought the Penguins' Matt Niskanen in Game 2 of the Isles' playoff series last spring.

Nilsson takes blame

Anders Nilsson hadn't played since being recalled on Jan. 6 after Evgeni Nabokov went down with a quadriceps injury, so he had to shake off some rust in his start on Monday.

He made 14 first-period saves but was too deep in his net on both of Matt Read's goals, one shorthanded and the other a rush off the boards late in the second to give the Flyers a 3-1 lead.

"I got caught a little deep on that one," said Nilsson, who had 26 saves and his first victory of the season in five starts (1-2-2). "That one was my goal, obviously."

Kevin Poulin gets the start at Madison Square Garden Tuesday night and Nabokov might be ready to return for Thursday's game against the Penguins. So Monday might have been it for Nilsson in his second stint with the Islanders this season.