The Philadelphia Flyers played a lot better in the back half of the home and home, but the New York Islanders were able to tie the game late and then score the lone goal in a 9-round shootout. Carter Hart and Semyon Varlamov did their jobs tonight amidst a myriad of scoring opportunities, but Casey Cizikas’ game-tying goal with less than 5 minutes to go was the dagger to the Flyers’ heart. On top of blowing a third period lead, this extends their losing streak to 9 games after the 4-3 shootout loss.
With their last regulation win coming on the 14th of December against the New Jersey Devils and with no wins on home ice since the 18th of December against the Ottawa Senators, the Philadelphia Flyers were on the verge of a second 9+ game losing streak in one season and found out that Kevin Hayes would miss the next 3-4 weeks after a procedure in his adductor region, meaning things wouldn’t get any easier as they played host to the New York Islanders to finish off the home and home set.
FIRST PERIOD
On a bad line change 2 minutes into the game, the Islanders, who initially lost the puck, got it right back and entered the zone with the Flyers in shambles. Zach Parise dropped a pass to Mathew Barzal who was all alone at the blue line, he ended up bringing in four Flyers defenders, and danced past Gerry Mayhew before setting up Robin Salo for a slap-shot goal. He thought he scored his first goal last night but it was awarded to Casey Cizikas, but this time it was all Salo and the Islanders took a daunting 1-0 lead.
The shorthanded Flyers needed someone in the top 6 to step up and they got exactly that from Joel Farabee, who looked to have tied the game with his 12th of the season. It all started from a simple hockey play, something we’ve been clamouring for for weeks as Ivan Provorov’s started the opportunity with a simple shot towards the net.
His shot hit Cam Atkinson in front of the net and then deflected to an open Farabee in the crease, who had a wide open net to tuck it home. However, the Islanders challenged the play to be offside and eventually won the challenge on a pretty quick review as Atkinson just entered the zone before the puck.
Hoping that the review wouldn’t take away their momentum, the Flyers were awarded a power play shortly after. Coming off a porous effort last night going 0 for 4 with no scoring chances and giving up several shorthanded opportunities, they needed a goal here more than ever; not just to gain confidence on their hapless power play, but not to lose momentum in a game they desperately needed to win.
James van Riemsdyk started and ended the play as he rimmed it around the boards to Claude Giroux. The captain then fed the puck to Cam York at the point whose shot missed the net, but took a fortuitous bounce off the boards and landed in the crease for van Riemsdyk to whack it in.
The Flyers unsurprisingly didn’t start the game well but they really finished off the period in style. Down in the shot total early, they finished the period up 12-9 and had several chances after Farabee’s goal was waived off, mitigating the Islanders as well.
SECOND PERIOD
The Flyers continued their momentous ways in the second period and were really buzzing all over the ice. The top line of Giroux-Atkinson-Farabee were noticeable in the first period but were extremely noticeable in the second. Giroux created the perfect chance for Keith Yandle to score his first goal of the season but he ended up holding onto the puck for too long and sent a cross-crease pass to Farabee, who was being defended pretty well with an open net at his doorstep.
The Islanders who started the game with a 12-5 shot attempt edge, completely lost the bill in the latter half of the first period as the Flyers started to out-chance them 28-8 by the midway point of the second. The second period started with Flyers outshooting the Islanders 10-1 and they were definitely lucky the score remained tied.
However, trying to turn the tide, the top line for the Islanders had the perfect matchup against the Flyers’ fourth line as they were able to hem them in for 1:30 minutes, got several chances including a shot off the post from Barzal, and then forced an icing. Shortly after, with momentum on their side, a strong forechecking shift by Anthony Beauvillier and Adam Pelech gave the Islanders an opportunistic 2-1 lead.
With the Islanders dumping the puck in, Cam York was chasing it down with Beauvillier on his tail. Beauvillier won the battle against York but then Travis Sanheim found the loose puck to which Beauvillier battled him out of as well. He then flipped the puck to the point where a pinching Pelech was able to body Giroux to get the puck back to Beauvillier in the corner. He then sent a pass in the crease to Josh Bailey, who went skate to stick with Carter Hart going the opposite direction and the Islanders all of a sudden had a 2-1 lead.
26 seconds later, Travis Konecny who went 20 games without a goal, tied the game with his 2nd goal in as many games. Justin Braun started the play with a simple dump in from centre ice. It was retrieved by Varlamov who mishandled the puck and gave it away to Scott Laughton. He took a quick whack at the puck that hit Varlamov’s pad that then was pushed further by Oskar Lindblom through the blue paint to a wide open Konecny who made no mistake.
With momentum back on their side and under a minute remaining in the second period, the Flyers had 3 glorious opportunities to take the lead with a late goal. Giroux-Atkinson-Farabee played tic-tac-toe with one another as Farabee got in the slot and looked for a deflection from Atkinson rushing to the net but Varlamov was able to glove it down.
Then on the ensuing face-off, Scott Laughton passed the puck to Rasmus Ristolainen at the point and his slap-shot was deflected by Oskar Lindblom in front of the net and as the puck went through Varlamov’s five-hole and rolling further away, he reached behind him and grabbed the puck on the red line. Then with 30 seconds left, Konecny sent a pass to the point again, this time to Sanheim, whose slap-shot was deflected by Konecny but went just wide.
THIRD PERIOD
To open the third period, both teams traded scoring chances. The Islanders’ fourth line entered the offensive zone to start the period and with Casey Cizikas behind the net, he found Cal Clutterbuck in the slot but Carter Hart came up with a big blocker save. On the ensuing face-off win, the Flyers transitioned perfectly from the d-zone to the o-zone as Konecny found Lindblom open in the slot, but Varlamov’s glove was active yet again and robbed the young Swede.
The top line for the Flyers were really feeling it tonight and off another great transition from d-zone to o-zone, Joel Farabee banked it off the boards to Claude Giroux, who played give-and-go with Cam Atkinson, which allowed Giroux to break through the Islanders defense and he found himself all alone and roofed it glove side past Varlamov.
With the game hanging in the balance for the Islanders, no shots through the first 10 minutes in the third, and the Flyers flying through the offensive zone and firing at will on Varlamov, Zdeno Chara decided to drop the gloves with Zack MacEwen after his high hit on Scott Mayfield. I don’t think anyone wins against Chara as his 6’9” frame makes it impossible to land any punches.
Holding a one goal lead with less than 5 minutes remaining in regulation, the oft-dangerous fourth line for the Islanders struck again and got the crucial tying goal. They transitioned from their own zone, just like the Flyers had done all game, and Mayfield not only started the break out but he also executed the pass to Cizikas at the front of the net. Quickly after the tying goal, Travis Sanheim was called for a penalty but Justin Braun and Carter Hart held their ground and killed it off.
OVERTIME
Overtime was as exciting as ever as both teams had several quality scoring chances with both goaltenders standing tall. Carter Hart made 2 wraparound stops with his left pad, the first coming with Laughton, Farabee, and Ristolainen being hemmed on the ice for nearly 2 minutes. Farabee and Sanheim had a 2 on 1 rush with 30 seconds remaining but Farabee’s deflected shot was stopped by the pad.
SHOOTOUT
Round 1:
Travis Konecny, miss
Anthony Beauvillier, miss
Round 2:
Claude Giroux, miss
Matthew Barzal, miss
Round 3:
Cam Atkinson, miss
Brock Nelson, miss
Round 4:
Joel Farabee, miss
Josh Bailey, miss
Round 5:
Scott Laughton, miss
Kieffer Bellows, miss
Round 6:
Morgan Frost, miss
Noah Dobson, miss
Round 7:
James van Riemsdyk, miss
Zach Parise, miss
Round 8:
Gerry Mayhew, miss
Jean-Gabriel Pageau, miss
Round 9:
Ivan Provorov, miss
Oliver Wahlstrom, goal
UP NEXT…
Up next for the Flyers are the Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday night as they try to avoid their second 10-game winless streak of the season.
