Jeff Carter snapped a tie in the second period and the Philadelphia Flyers beat the New York Islanders for the 13th straight time, 2-1 on Sunday night.

The Flyers, who have won three in a row overall for the first time in two months, haven't lost to the Islanders since Feb. 12, 2008. It is the longest active streak in the NHL, one win more than Washington's current 12-game run over Tampa Bay.

Danny Briere scored in the first period to give the Flyers their first lead and he nearly added another goal in the third, but it was waved off.

Video replay determined that Briere steered his own shot in with a skate after the puck hit goalie Martin Biron at the end of a 2-on-1 rush.

The Flyers overcame that and got strong goaltending from Michael Leighton, who stopped 28 shots while making his third consecutive start over Brian Boucher.

Philadelphia is 3-0 on a six-game road trip that included a 4-3 shootout win at Carolina on Saturday night.

"Of the three [straight] wins, I thought tonight was our best," Flyers coach Peter Laviolette said. "Offensively we had an identity and defensively we were pretty tight."

Due to weather, the Flyers didn't arrive in New York until 3:30 a.m. ET, 13½ hours before the late-afternoon puck drop on Long Island.

Rare streak

Philadelphia (18-18-2) hadn't won three straight since a five-game run from Oct. 31-Nov. 12. Its previous two-game spurt came on Nov. 16-18.

"Confidence is a key factor," Briere said. "You're not as bad as you think when you can't find the goals to win and you're not as good as you think when you get on a winning streak. You've got to find that even keel, and it's a tough thing to do.

"We have to realize there is still lots of work to be done."

The Islanders also were looking for a rare three-game winning streak, following victories over Toronto on Wednesday and at the New York Rangers on Saturday. The Islanders are 2-7 in the second half of back-to-back games this season.

Jon Sim's fourth goal of the season brought New York into a tie in the second period, but the Islanders couldn't generate any other offence. Former Flyers goalie Biron made 28 saves but lost his sixth straight decision. New York has dropped nine of 13.

"Marty has been playing great," Islanders forward Trent Hunter said. "We haven't given him the offensive support needed, and hung him out to dry a few times. That is something we really can't do."

Briere got the seemingly tired Flyers going early. Carter made a strong move through the slot, avoided contact with Islanders defenceman Andy Sutton, and fed a pass to Briere at the bottom of the right circle for a perfect shot to the top right corner behind Biron at 1:51.

Sim tied it following the benefit of a pair of non-calls when it appeared Flyers defenceman Chris Pronger and New York's Mark Streit both struck the puck with high sticks. The second carom off Streit sent the puck to Sim, who made it 1-1 at 3:35 of the second.

That set the stage for Carter.

Scott Hartnell skated with the puck on Carter's right during a 2-on-1 break. Hartnell calmly slid a soft pass across to Carter, who waited for Biron to make a move before lifting a shot over him with 3:07 left in the second. Carter has three goals in six games after recording only two in the previous 11.

Hartnell assisted on both Flyer goals.