UNIONDALE, N.Y. - "Beat Up on the Goalie Month" continued last night at Nassau Coliseum for the Flyers.

Chris Osgood, who has a Stanley Cup ring on his finger from his better days in Detroit, was burned for five goals in the first period as the Flyers charred the Islanders, 6-2.

On Thursday, the Flyers lit up Montreal's Jose Theodore for four goals after scorching him for six a week earlier. And let's not forget that the Flyers torched Calgary's Roman Turek for five goals in the opening week of the season.

Obviously, it's been tough for opposing goaltenders facing Ken Hitchcock's Flyers. Osgood lasted one period before Garth Snow replaced him.

"That first period, we were really able to take advantage of our power plays... and we took a lot of wind out of their sails," Hitchcock said. "And we caught them on a couple of odd-man rushes."

A couple of Flyers lines have awakened. Keith Primeau, who had two goals Thursday, picked up his third last night, and line mate Justin Williams scored his first goal in six games.

"They're really playing right now," Hitchcock said.

Meanwhile, Jeremy Roenick, who was minus-3 in the last two games, scored twice on the power play, and line mates John LeClair and Mark Recchi looked sharp on the attack. That line had cooled off recently after a strong start.

"We knew these guys play very well in their own building," Roenick said. "So for us to come out and take it to them was very important. We were fortunate to catch them a little off guard."

Roenick wasn't the only Flyer who offered double trouble to the Islanders. Michal Handzus had his second consecutive two-goal game.

"I don't remember ever doing that," he said. "We [his line] did a good job on the forecheck. We had two guys going in hard [for pucks]. We got a lot of turnovers, which is a big key."

And if you're counting, the Flyers have scored at least one power-play goal in every game this season (eight).

"I don't think we did that all last year," Roenick correctly noted.

The Flyers entered the game last night ranked sixth in the NHL in success on the power play, at 21.4 percent. That's a steep climb up the ladder of special-teams respectability under Hitchcock, given that the Flyers finished 28th last season in power-play efficiency under Bill Barber.

"All I know right now is it's a good power play, and it's very effective," Hitchcock said.

The Flyers led by 5-2 going into the third period when Handzus scored his second goal of the night and fifth overall after New York had played a strong second period.

Robert Esche picked up his second win as a Flyers goalie.

Osgood was under siege the entire opening period. He looked shaky from the get-go, giving up two goals in 31 seconds.

It took Williams just 16 seconds to take a loose puck in his own end, scamper up the left side, and bury one past the Isles netminder.

Fifteen seconds later, Handzus won a face-off in the Islanders' end. The puck deflected off Donald Brashear's stick back to Eric Weinrich at the left point, and he slapped the puck on net, where Handzus tipped it in for his fourth goal of the season and a 2-0 lead. Weinrich would finish the game with a career-high three assists.

Those two Flyers goals were the third-fastest two goals from the start of play in Islanders history, although they didn't come close to being a Flyers record.

Brad Isbister got one back with a power-play goal at 2:18, but after that, the game didn't seem in doubt.

Roenick scored the first of his two goals in that period at 10:55 on the power play. Kim Johnsson faked a shot, then dropped the puck low to Roenick, who one-timed it from the left slot, making it 3-1.

Primeau's third goal of the season less than five minutes later demonstrated the precision his line can offer when the players are in tune with one another. Primeau threw the puck around the back boards to Williams, who centered in the right slot for Gagne. In a millisecond, Gagne chipped the puck across the middle, and Primeau buried it from there.

Roenick's second goal, near the end of the period on the power play, made it 5-1. Again, the Flyers' tic-tac-toe passing was one step ahead of the Islanders and had them off balance. Recchi lined the puck across the blue line through two Islanders to Weinrich, who sent it diagonally into the right slot, where Roenick merely turned his stick ever-so-slightly and chipped the puck over Osgood.

The five goals in the period weren't a Flyers record. The 1972-73 Flyers hold that mark with eight against Vancouver on March 22, 1973, during a 9-0 rout.

However, the five goals matched the total the Flyers had scored in the opening period in their previous seven games.

"We needed a better start, and we picked it up right from the first shift," Handzus said.