So much for rising to the occasion and breathing some life into this snooze of an Islander season.
Coach Ted Nolan had said opportunities like yesterday’s don’t get much better, but there were his Islanders asleep at the puck in a 4-1 loss to the Flyers at the Coliseum, an opportunity squandered to climb into an eighth-place tie in the Eastern Conference quagmire.
On top of that disappointment, the Islanders will face Florida today without goalie Rick DiPietro, who will attend his grandmother’s wake, while the franchise honors the heroes from its four straight Stanley Cup championship teams of the early 1980s.
“It just [stinks]; this was a big game,” Brendan Witt said. “It would have been nice just to pick up a point out of it and stay not so far back behind the pack. We’re going to have to go on a run here.”
In what Nolan considered a “playoff atmosphere” the Islanders (31-28-7) fell four points behind Philadelphia (33-25-7) for eighth place in the conference.
The final blow was Mike Knuble’s short-handed goal midway through the third period that put the Islanders into a two-goal deficit, all but insurmountable for a team with so little offensive firepower.
The short-handed goal was the 13th allowed by the Islanders this season, the highest total in the NHL.
“It means we’re not bearing down,” Nolan said. “It’s about the will to want the puck.”
Jeff Carter stole the puck from Miroslav Satan and fired a shot that DiPietro blocked, but Carter got the rebound and made a pass that Knuble deflected into goal.
The Flyers had taken a 2-1 lead on Braydon Coburn’s power play goal at 14:24 of the second period. To that point the Islanders were out-shooting Philly 22-15.
The Islanders got their first power play opportunity eight minutes into the second period and needed just 31 seconds to capitalize. Bill Guerin’s shot past Martin Biron made it 1-1, breathing some life into the previously dormant Coliseum crowd. The goal was Guerin’s 20th of the season, making him the second player in NHL history, along with Ray Sheppard, to reach that plateau with six different teams.
Guerin also had 20-goal seasons playing for New Jersey, Edmonton, Boston, Dallas and St. Louis.
“I don’t know if it’s good or bad,” Guerin said, referring to the record. “Maybe I’ve maintained a good level of consistency through bouncing around over the years.”
Guerin also became the second Islander to reach 20 goals this season. Mike Comrie scored twice Thursday in Atlanta, making the Islanders the last team in the NHL to produce a 20-goal scorer this season.
In a crisply played first period – neither team was called for a penalty – the Flyers took a 1-0 lead on Carter’s wrist shot past DiPietro at 13:59.
“Today was a big game,” Witt said. “And it just closes that window even more for us. We’re playing for our lives right now.”
mpuma@nypost.com